Truth, Lies, and Love
by tvfan22
Summary: My ideas for what Pyramid meant. slight spoilers. A member of the team is put on an assignmnet that changes everything for everyone. Can he pull it off or will he lose everything that he's ever held dear? Can he uncover the truth before its too late?
1. Chapter 1

Truth, Lies, and Love

Just my ideas about what the finale meant and what will happen in the not too distant future. (and my own fic stuff but I know that's not gonna happen...like all the tiva in here. I've pretty much given up hope.) plus I kinda like Vance as a director so he's gonna be pretty good in this fic. It's sort of funny, I've written the first few chapters and then like 4 in the middle and I've pretty much completely formed my plotline. Everything is sort of brought up in this fic...and I mean everything...except Kate. (at this point. Eureka!) enough babble.

For the readers that have read my other fics, I'm terribly sorry but I've hit a ginormous writers block. I've even started 2 more long fics but again, I hit writer's block. So hopefully this will cure me seeing as I've been writing this for about a week straight. Literally.

Disclaimer: soooo...disclaimed it's not even funny

"No." Tony said again, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"it's non-optional Special Agent DiNozzo." the SecNav Jarvis said.

"this is insane." he said looking down again at the picture. "what evidence do you have?"

"calls to restricted and highly incrypted phones in the middle east and north Africa. She has a history of with-holding information from this agency. She has a bad relationship to with her father which could cause her to take revenge just like her brother, who was a Hamas terrorist."

"Circumstantial." Tony said quickly.

"That may be, but she's the strongest lead we have. Everything fits with her. And...given your...personal, relationship with her, you would be the best to find out." Jarvis said. Vance looked uncomfortable and his lips were in a tight line. Tony could tell that he didn't like this any more than Tony.

"We don't have a personal relationship." Tony said seriously. He couldn't fathom all of this. Ziva was innocent. His feelings had lain dormant for years now, every once in a while stirring but never fully waking up.

Secnav laughed. "You went halfway around the world to kill the man that supposedly killed her. Did you honestly expect to get out of there alive? Let alone with her? Do not insult my intelligence Special Agent DiNozzo." he turned back to the file.

"she has family in the middle east." Tony said still trying to rule Ziva out.

"one living aunt plus her father. Those are not the numbers we're talking about." Jarvis said adamantly.

The table was silent but you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"suppose I do this, what do I do?" Tony asked. If he couldn't tell them she was innocent, he would prove it.

"get closer to her. Find out who she's contacting, what she knows." Vance said.

"she has a boyfriend." Tony said dejectedly.

"he is on assignment from the CIA. He was our man on this. We need to nip this in the bud asap so we're going in a deiffernt way." Secnav said.

"wait..." Tony said.

"their relationship...is run by the agency, shall we say." Secnav said. "we've been working very closely with them for awhile now."

Vance looked at Tony and saw the fire in his eyes. He inwardly smiled and hoped Tony could pull this off.

"and you want me to..."

"do whatever it takes, Special Agent DiNozzo. Get close to her, seduce her if you have to, hell, just get the damn job done." Secnav said angrily.

Tony set his jaw.

"or you'll be speaking Spanish with the natives for the rest of your career." he added.

With that, Tony stood up and walked out quickly. The rage was boiling up inside of him and soon he was going to blow. He went quickly to the bathroom. Thankfully the stalls were empty. He leaned againt the sinks and took a deep breathe.

"how can they do this?" he thought. "now the new secnav is calling all the shots and Vance is his puppet."

Then another thought hit him. Ray was playing Ziva. Yet another man was playing Ziva. Could she take another near KO blow?

Everything was spinning out of control. He didn't know what the hell was going with E.J. or if he even had real feelings for her.

All he knew for sure was that he had to help Ziva. He had to protect her better this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A/N: Jeez you guys are fantastic what with all the alerts and reviews! I personally don't like the first part of the story right now becasue I'm much better at writing angsty and suspenseful peices which we'll get into later so please bear with me. :) thanks again and please don't forget to review!

Tony walked out of the bathroom after he had composed himself only to find Ziva leaning against the wall outside the door.

"why didn't you just come in?" he asked.

"you locked the door for once." she said.

Tony wouldn't make eye contact. Ziva couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. They caught Cobb, everyone was fine.

"what is wrong?" she asked.

"nothing." Tony said and brushed past her and walked towards his desk. He had to get out of there.

"did you hear about the new Secretary?" she asked.

"yeah." was all Tony could say. He went to leave after he had grabbed his bag but Ziva stepped in front of him.

"do we need to go back to the bathroom?" she asked.

They were maybe 2 inches apart and Tony could feel her breath on his neck. It drove him crazy. He wanted to tell her everything but then again he had to clear her. But by doing that, he was lying to her.

"Tony!" she said to get his attention back which had strayed.

"no." he said quickly and walked away, leaving Ziva wondering.

The next day, the team caught a case. Tony and Ziva hadn't spoken to eachother since the previous day.

"What do you guys want for lunch?" McGee asked awkwardly as he sat inbetween Tony and Ziva in the NCIS van.

"Pizza." Tony said.

"Chinese." Ziva said simultaneously.

"ok...what about...Mexican?" McGee asked, but he never received an answer.

"What is up with you guys?" He finally said.

"Tony? Care to bear?" Ziva asked.

Tony turned a sharp corner making everyone slid a little.

"care to share. And no." he said while keeping his eyes on the road. His head and heart hadn't stopped fighting since he was put on assignment. He didn't sleep a wink the night before.

They investigated the crime scene and went back to NCIS afterwards. The case was open and shut after the neighbor admitted to killing the marine. They were filling out paperwork when Tony finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I've had a lot on my mind lately. I didn't want to burden you with it." He said from his desk.

She looked up from her paperwork.

"can I make it up to you? tonight you and I could watch a movie at my place. Just like old times?" he gave her the charming DiNozzo grin.

"I'll bring the beer." she smiled back but it was gone as soon as it had come. "but we are not done talking about this."

"what is this, exactly?" he asked cheekily. He was excited for later but then again he dreaded it. He dreaded questioning her.

"what is bothering you." she said seriously.

She searched his eyes for the answers that she seeked but all she saw was the mask and that there was something underneath.

Tony smiled and went to get ready.

Tony went home and cleaned up his apartment. He changed into some jeans and an old t-shirt right before the doorbell rang. He had agonized over this for the past 4 hours. He looked through the peephole and unlocked the door before he opened it.

"hey." Tony said brightly. He truly was happy to see her but his gut was churning.

"hello." she smiled back and walked straight to the kitchen where she set down the beer.

They both grabbed a couple and Tony put in a movie. He then joined Ziva on his couch.

"so how are you?" she asked after Tony returned from the kitchen after grabbing some popcorn.

"better than earlier." Tony said. He watched her hand travel from her knee to the popcorn bowl and up to her mouth.

"what about you?" he asked.

"I've been better actually." she said and returned her gaze to the tv.

Tony lightly touched her leg to get her attention but quickly pulled away. Ziva noticed his hesitation and cautiousness.

"Ray?" he asked.

"I don't know." she sighed. Tony could tell that she was frusterated.

"you can tell me." he said. He was truly curious. He felt anger surge through his veins at the thought of Ziva being mistreated like he knew she was.

Ziva wouldn't make eye contact and pretended to watch the movie. After a few minutes, she spoke.

"what about you and E.J.?" she asked.

"I think she wants a real relationship." Tony said.

"and you don't?" she asked surprised.

"not with her." he said.

"I thought you said that you, 'got her'." Ziva said.

"I guess that I really didn't. It was only dinner and sex." he said.

"isn't that a real relationship to you?" she laughed. He loved her laugh, but then again, the remark hurt him deep down.

"maybe once but not now. I want something with, real emotions, love." he said as he popped popcorn into his mouth. "I want something permanent, someone I can be excited to come home to everyday."

She was surprised at his admission. She wondered if he could've possibly known that that was exactly what she was looking for.

"As am I." she said.

"you haven't found it yet?" Tony asked cautiously.

"I thought I had but apparently not." she said and took more popcorn.

Tony took the vagueness as a signal to address something else.

"have you talked to your father lately?" he asked.

"why?" she looked over at him. He saw something in her eyes, something like worry.

"I was just wondering. I've been fixing my relationship with my dad." he said, shrugging and eatin more popcorn.

"good." she smiled and turned back to the movie.

"you still didn't answer my question." Tony said and flashed her a smile.

"not really." she said.

Tony mentally half crossed out business with her father. She could be lying but then again, he could always tell when she did and his Ziva lie detector wasn't going off.

He decided not to push any further tonight and turned his attention back to the movie.

About an hour later, Tony had noticed that they had become much closer. They had both finished off a few beers and Ziva was beginning to nod off.

He slid his arm up to the back of the couch and she leaned into his shoulder and side.

Tony gently played with the ends of her hair. She haphazardly slung her arm around his middle and he put his hand over hers. He could get used to this. He liked it. No scratch that, he loved it. He wanted to do this everyday for the rest of his life.

The end of the movie came much too soon for Tony's liking. He gently kissed the top of her head.

"Ziva." he said softly. She stirred slightly but instead of waking she snuggled deeper into him.

"Ziva wake up." he Said rubbing her arm.

Ziva's eyes fluttered open and she looked up.

"morning." she said.

"actually it's only 1 and in my book, that's still night." Tony smiled. Then he realised that Ziva was fully awake and was still laying on him. Then again he still had his arms around her too.

Ziva seemed to realize the exact same thing he did at the same time. She went to pull away but he stopped her.

"I like this." Tony said. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was his feelings, he really didn't care. All he wanted to do was hold onto her and kiss her.

"Tony." she said. But she never got to finish her thought because Tony's lips met hers. He pulled away slowly leaving Ziva a little stunned. Tony was just happy she hadn't bolted yet.

It was his turn for a surprise as Ziva's lips met his again but this time she slid her tongue effortlessly through his lips. Tony didn't need any more confirmation about this.

He brought his hand up to her neck and she pushed him down gently so she was lying on top of him. He brought his other hand up to her waist. Ziva started to get slightly more aggressive as she moved his hand under her shirt. Tony didn't need to be told anything more.

Ziva finally broke away, "maybe we should, move this to the bedroom." she said softly.

Tony thought it was all wrong. "Ziva, are you..." Tony started but again he was interrupted.

Ziva pulled up at his shirt and he complied with her wishes. Tony picked her up and stood up. Ziva wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her down the hall and into his bedroom.

A/N: again not completely happy with it. It's moving pretty quick bit it's all for a reason. Please Review and again you guys are fantastic!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: one little tidbit, Tony isn't playing her, he truly does love as we all see. He didn't mean for that night to happen but it did and he kinda deals with that in this chapter because he didn't mean to go down the road this way. Btw, thanks for all the reviews and alerts, you guys rock!

Tony awoke the next morning to his alarm and a headache. He had had worse but it was just annoying. Then memories of the previous night came rushing back. He sat up too quickly and his headache got worse for a few seconds. Once he recovered, he looked around finding an empty bed and no clothes on the floor but his own.

He got up and pulled on his boxers. He went out to the living room to find empty beer bottles and an empty bowl. Evidence that last night's activities had in fact taken place. He felt terrible about sleeping with her like that. He didn't have a plan yet but he knew that sleeping with her sure wasn't it. It was the last thing that he wanted to do but maybe this could be the start of a relationship for them. Not a relationship just about sex but a real relationship. Not to mention that he still had to help her, and that was going to be pretty difficult now if things were awkward.

He took a quick shower and got ready for work. His head and his heart were fighting the entire way to the Navy yard. He hoped that Ziva wouldn't pretend like it never happened but then again he hoped that she didn't acknowledge that it happened by ignoring him. When he came in, his fears of the latter were confirmed.

She was already at her desk, checking email, he supposed. She refused to look at him.

"Morning McGee." Tony grunted as he dropped his bag in its usual place.

"good morning Tony." McGee said cheerfully. "what's your problem this morning?"

"none of your McBusiness." Tony said shortly. He hated talking to Tim that way but he had to lash out somehow. Unfortunately one if his best friends was the target.

He sat down and logged onto his computer only to IM her.

VerySpecialAgentDiNozzo: can we talk about last night?

NinjaZiva: there is nothing to talk about. What happened, happened. We move on.

VerySpecialAgentDiNozzo: I don't want to move on, Ziva.

He looked directly at her as he typed. He saw her read the message and she looked up at him. Tony's eyes pleaded. He heard a bing notifying him of an IM.

NinjaZiva is offline

He sighed and rubbed his face.

"DiNozzo!" he heard Vance call from the catwalk. "with me." Tony got up and met Vance at the foot of the stairs only to follow him to his office.

When they arrived, Tony walked in to see the SecNav.

"well don't look all excited Special Agent DiNozzo." secnav said.

'well seeing as how you're blackmailing me...' Tony mused to himself.

"you needed to see me?" Tony asked getting straight to the point.

"yes, I'm having second thoughts about your assignment." he said.

"why?" Tony asked.

"you seemed too...involved, as it is." he said.

"I've already started working on it." Tony said.

"really?" The Secnav sat up a little straighter. "how's that going."

"starting out a litle rocky but I think everything will straighten itself out." Tony said. 'more like 1 step forward, 2 steps back.' he thought.

"good to hear it." secnav smiled. "I guess I'll let you continue then, but remember, your job rides on this." he said turning serious again. "you're dismissed."

Vance nodded to Tony on his way out. He walked back to his desk only to find that the bullpen was empty. Tony sat down and put his head in his hands. He was a coward, but then again, he was trying to help Ziva. He was a puppet. A powerless, lowely puppet that the Secnav pulled the strings to. When did Anthony DiNozzo fall so far? "When he fell in love." a little voice in the back of his head chimed in. "He just now hit the ground." He knew for a long time that he had feelings for Ziva but she was always off limits or just out of reach.

And what the hell was last night? He wanted to replay everything over in his mind again, and again but his heart wouldn't let him because it hurt too much to know that it was probably the first and last time that happened.

He was broken from his reverie when he saw Ziva exit the bathroom and beeline for the elevator.

It was now or never. With all thoughts of his assignment gone from his mind, Tony sprang up and got to the elevator just before the doors closed. He slipped in and hit the emergency stop button soon after the elevator started moving.

"Ziva we need to talk." He said.

"you need to talk. I have nothing to say." she replied.

"ok, then I'll talk, you listen." he paused and thought about his words. He decided to just speak from the heart.

Ziva was in the opposite corner that he was in, refusing to make eye contact.

"last night, I've wanted last night to happen for I don't know how long. And now that it has, I want to pursue this."

"pursue what Tony?" she asked exasperatingly. "friends with benefits?"

"no. You know like you and me. Us. As a couple. Date, get married, have a few kids, grow..." he was silenced by Ziva's finger on his lips. She had sprung across the elevator faster than lightning.

"Tony, we, can't." she emphasized.

"why not?" he asked, determinedly against her finger.

"we just..." she trailed off exasperatedly and removing her finger.

"exactly." Tony said with a soft smile. "I love you Ziva. I think I always have. I've always come for you, I've always been there to help you for a reason and not just because you're my partner. You're more than that to me."

Ziva looked at the floor.

"one of the most permanent things in my life, has always been you." Tony continued. "and I think that...we've danced around...this, for a long enough time now. I want to pursue this. I want a life with you Ziva."

Ziva didn't know what to say. She was afraid, afraid of getting hurt, to let someone back into her already broken heart. But Tony was always there for her. He was always trying to help her, or at least not intentionally hurt her.

"I think this is right Ziva." he said, silently begging for her to look at him. "I want this to be right."

Tony's hand rose to cup her cheek while his other hand went to her waist. He gently pulled her towards him and she let him. They didn't break eye contact as he leant in to where their noses were almost touching.

Ziva hadn't tried to stop him so he closed the space between their lips. Tony's tongue entered her mouth hesitantly but she kissed him back.

Tony pulled away, slightly breathless, and rested his forehead against hers.

"tell me that you feel what I do when we do that." he whispered.

"yes." she whispered back.

With that, she resealed her lips to his.

They broke apart after a few minutes.

"I wonder if Vance ever put those cameras in here." Tony smiled cheekily.

"should we give him a show?" Ziva asked seductively.

"ha...haha..." Tony laughed uneasily.

Ziva smiled and kissed him more aggressively. She started undoing his belt. She pushed him against the wall with the control panel and secretly flipped the on switch.

Tony was so into the kiss that he didn't even notice. The doors opened and Ziva was gone.

"tease!" he called after her. He looked down and realised that he needed to go take a cold shower. He laughed. He felt the happiest that he had ever been in his entire life. He tried not to let the knot in his stomach and the voice in the back of his head bring him down.

That evening, Tony went home with a smile on his face. He showered and changed into some sweats before grabbing a couple of movies. On his way to Ziva's, he stopped and got a pizza and some beer.

He walked up the stairs to her apartment and knocked. He smiled into the peep hole.

Ziva walked to her door and looked into the peep hole only to find Tony looking ridiculous. She laughed and opened the door.

"can I come in?" Tony asked still grinning from ear to ear.

"maybe, it depends on what kind of pizza you brought." she smiled mischeviously.

"5 cheese supreme." he smiled. "your favorite."

"alright." she laughed and let him in.

"so what have you been up to?" Tony asked as he sat down on her couch.

She sat down by him and tucked her legs underneath her body.

"well, my lease is up on this place in a couple of weeks and I'm thinking about moving closer to the Navy Yard so I have been looking at new apartments." she said as Tony handed her a slice of pizza. She pulled her laptop onto her lap from the coffee table and returned to her real estate browsing.

"my place is only a few miles." Tony said. "it's an easy drive."

"that's something that I would like." Ziva said. "but I can't find much in my price range." she didn't look up from her computer, nor did she realize exactly what he was saying.

"plus my place is considerably closer to...me." he said and took a large bite of pizza.

Ziva looked over to see him struggling with a particularly large cheese strand between his mouth and his pizza.

She laughed and grabbed the strand and put it in her mouth.

"hey, you just took like half of the cheese off of my pizza." he pouted.

"you'll live." she smirked and sucked the sauce off of her finger.

"yeah, sooo...uh my place is pretty ideal." he said with a nervous smile.

"Tony." she sighed but smiled at the same time. "we just figured out...our feelings. We're not even together."

"we're not?" Tony's eyebrows shot up.

"well..."

"come on Ziva, we've known eachother for years. There's nothing you don't know about me and I don't think...that there's anything that I don't know about you." Tony said slowly. "do you really think that we can...date? It's too normal...nothing about us is normal."

"you have a point." she said. "I am just..." she looked back down at her computer.

Tony's world stopped. He wanted to carve out his heart and give it to her at that moment but he knew even if that were possible, he could possibly be hurting her. He didn't know how this operation was going to end but he hoped that Ziva really wouldn't be involved. He had half a mind just to tell her now, but then again maybe he could solve this and she would never have to know. Her life had been hard enough, why complicate it further?

"Ziva, I will never, intentionally hurt you. I've loved you for years, all of the things that have happened, I've tried to protect you." Tony said. "I have your back, because I know that you have mine."

She looked up with a small smile played out on her lips.

"can't we just skip the 'go on a date every few days and talk on the phone every day'" Tony asked.

Ziva thought for a moment. "if, when my lease runs out, we are still together..."

"which we will be." he added.

"if," she continued. "then I will move in with you."

Tony was ecstatic. He kissed her lips and went for another slice of pizza.

Ziva laughed.

"so what movies did you bring?" she asked him.

"Bond, James Bond." he said in his best Sean Connery impression voice.

Ziva laughed and Tony couldn't help but smile and laugh with her. He put the DVD in and sat back down. He leaned back and slightly to the side and Ziva laid on him, with one hand on his stomach and one of his around her shoulders.

Tony kissed the top of her head before he let exhaustion take him over and he laid his head back against the couch.

He was one happy man.

A/N: little bit of fluff before I turn this little world upside down :) Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: ok I lied, a little more fluff and THEN...I will send this little world into turmoil. Also, sorry for taking a couple of days, I started to rewrite a lot of the later stuff and I wasn't sure of how far back I had to make the changes go. On the upside, I now think that the plot is much stronger! Whoo! Please don't forget to review! They make my day and get me to write faster!

(10 1/2 weeks later)

In the almost 11 weeks that they had been together, they had never been happier before in their lives. They both felt free of all of their demons. They had moved their relationship along quickly but they didn't really see a reason to take it slow. Ziva had moved in with Tony when her lease ran out. They took everything in stride an actually surprised themselves by how smoothly their lives ran being together 24/7. They just...fit. Tony had completely forgotten about his assignment. He was too enraptured in their relationship. Ziva finally felt like she was in a good relationship, one that couldn't be broken, one that would stick for once.

Ziva awoke, laying on Tony's chest, with their legs entangled.

She played with the hairs on his chest for a moment until she realised that he was also awake.

"what are you thinking about?" she asked softly.

"hm...just, how everything has changed. How much better my life has gotten." Tony smiled down at her.

Ziva smiled but was suddenly overcome with a feeling of nausea. She bolted up out of bed and ran to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Tony took a moment to figure out what had just happened.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and got up. He walked over to the bathroom door and knocked softly.

"you ok?" he asked.

The only reply was the sound of retching.

"will you let me in?" he asked.

There was only silence.

He picked the lock and let himself in just in time to see Ziva heave into the toilet once more.

He pulled her hair back and put it up for her. He rubbed circles on her back until she was finished and he sat back against the tub and wall with her laying back on him.

"I think I have a fly." she said groggily.

"bug." Tony chuckled.

"same difference." she replied, slightly annoyed.

Tony kissed the side of her face gently.

"you ok now?" he asked.

"yes I think so." she said tiredly.

Tony helped her up. While she was brushing her teeth, Tony brought her some saltines and water. She took them greatfully and sat back down on their bed.

"I'm just gonna tell Gibbs that you're sick." Tony said after he showered and started to get dressed.

"no, I can go in. I'm feeling better." Ziva said quickly and tried to get back out of bed but Tony stopped her.

"no, rest. It'll make me feel better." Tony smiled softly. "please..." he said with a cheesy grin.

Ziva chuckled lightly and complied with his wishes.

Once he was done getting ready, he came back into their bedroom to find Ziva channel surfing. He walked over and pecked her on the lips.

"I'll call you when I'm on my way home." he smiled and left.

After Ziva hadn't found anything good on tv to watch, she decided to just read her book. The only problem was that she still couldn't quite get the foul taste out if her mouth. She put her book down and went to the bathroom. She looked under the sink for mouthwash but a box of tampons caught her eye.

"How long has it...oh my god." Ziva whispered to herself. How could she have been so stupid, so irresponsible, so...blind! She mentally cursed herself. Maybe she was just over reacting. She worked a high stress job and her period often turned out to be unpredictable but then again, she'd never been this late.

She threw on a pair of sweats and one of Tony's sweatshirts before she drove down to the zip in on the corner of their street.

She felt like an idiot looking through the isles. Finally she found the right one and found what she needed. Just to be safe, she grabbed a few boxes and went to the register.

Once she was home, she rushed to the bathroom and followed the instructions on the back of the box. The ten minutes of waiting were by far the longest of her life. Could she handle a child? She worked all the time. Could Tony handle a child? Probably but the real question was; Could they handle one together? She wanted to settle down sometime but everything was happening so fast.

The timer on her phone broke her out of her reverie. She was scared. She couldnt bring herself to look at the sticks. She wasnt ready for a baby. She didn't know how to be a mother. Neither of them had had very good or stable parental figures.

She finally mustered up the courage and looked at the sticks. All three had little pink plus signs on them.

Ziva sighed and rubbed her face. She surprised herself as a smile stretched across her face.

She picked up her phone and called her doctor.

"Dr. Ashley Falsen's extension." the receptionist answered.

"hi, I'm Ziva David and I would like to schedule an appointment to confirm a pregnancy." Ziva said. Her own confidence was surprising.

"I actually just had a spot at 12 open up, is that alright?"

"yes. Thank you." Ziva said and hung up.

It was already 11:15 so she hurried and showered, got dressed, and left. Thankfully, her doctor's office was only about 10 minutes away.

Ziva sat patiently in the waiting room. The practice was run by three doctors and two were OB/GYNs so there were quite a few pregnant women in various stages of pregnancy. A couple had their other kids, others had their partners. Suddenly Ziva regretted not telling Tony and not having him come with her.

"Miss David." A nurse called. Ziva got up and walked back to an exam room.

"a doctor will be with you shortly." the nurse smiled and left Ziva alone in the room.

Ziva looked around the room. She saw multiple parenting magazines on the counter and many posters on the while, explaining different parts of pregnancy.

Ziva suddenly felt a little sick as the reality of the situation really started to hit her.

Dr. Falsen came in a few minutes later.

"hello Ziva." she smiled brightly. "it's been awhile."

"yes." Ziva nodded.

"I'm assuming that you fully recovered from your injuries from Somalia?" she asked gently. She had helped Ziva also deal with the traumatic stress of her imprisonment. She was fully aware that Ziva had been raped unlike most of Ziva's colleagues.

"yes." Ziva felt her mouth go dry.

"but thats not why you're here now is it?" she asked brightly.

"no. I took 3 home pregnancy tests and they all turned out positive." Ziva said nervously.

"alright, and how late would you say that you were?" Dr. Falsen asked as she took out her stethoscope to listen to Ziva's heart.

"8 or 9." Ziva replied sheepishly. "I seemed to have lost track of things."

"that's not uncommon." Dr. Falsen reassured as she put her stethoscope back around her neck. "you should be far enough along that we can just do an ultrasound."

Ziva smiled nervously again. This all gelt so real.

Dr. Falsen pulled one of the machines from the corner, over to the table.

"please lie down." she instructed an Ziva complie.

She squirted a glob of gel onto Ziva's taught stomach and started moving the wand around.

Ziva saw a tiny bean shaped shadow on the monitor just as she heard a steady "schwoo,schwoo,schwoo.." fill the room.

"and there's your baby." Dr. Falsen smiled.

Ziva smiled wildly and felt her eyes start to tear up. Ziva wanted this. Pictures of her and Tony with a baby flashed through her head, along with images of Tony playing catch with a child and teaching them how to ride a bike. She was ready for this.

Tony walked into work like any other morning. He had a certain swing in his step and he whistled a Sinatra song. McGee had thought that it was weird at first seeing as both he and Ziva had been in surprisingly pleasant moods. He realised after about a week that they had finally taken that step and inwardly smiled to himself. He suddenly had long awaited inspiration for his book that he had hit writer's block with a couple of monthes back. McGee never really thought about when Gibbs found out. He half expected him to yell at Tony and Ziva but Gibbs didn't say anything and instead just accepted it. He saw that things between his agents were working and was watching the line very closely in case someone stepped over. Abby had been ecstatic when she heard the news from McGee, confirming her suspicions. She was happy that they had finally figured themselves out.

"Where's Ziva?" McGee asked slightly confused. They always came in together now.

"stomach bug." Tony answered as he sat down and logged onto his computer. "so how are you probalicious?" he smiled broadly.

"pretty good, DiNozzo." McGee said without looking up from his computer. He had just gotten a strange email from the director asking him to look into some files, but under the radar.

"whatcha got there?" Tony jumped out his chair to look but McGee was quickier and instead, accidentally brought up some ideas for his book.

"oh, hoho!" Tony grinned.

McGee quickly minimized them.

"McAuthor got over his writer's block!"

"yes I did." McGee said an tried to find a way to get Tony away so he could figure all of this out.

"so, are you gonna give in to the fans and make Tommy and Lisa an official couple?" Tony grinned cheekily as he went bak to his desk and decided to occupy his time by throwing a ball up into the air and catching it.

"maybe." McGee shrugged. "or I'll just kill off Tommy."

Tony stopped and sat up straighter. "not nice McGoo." he went back to his computer much to McGee's relief.

The bullpen was oddly silent that morning. Gibbs came out of MTAC about an hour later and was silently doing something on his computer.

A thought of "the calm before the storm." ran through McGee's mind but he brushed it away.

The team finally caught a case around 10. The crime scene was an apartment just outside the Navy Yard where a petty officer ha been staying. They worked the crime scene with no excitement and went back to the Navy Yard to follow up some leads. They weren't gettin very far even at 2:30.

"I'm gonna go check on Ziva and bring her some lunch." Tony announced.

"hurry up DiNozzo." Gibbs grunted before Tony left.

He stopped by Ziva's favorite soup place before driving back to their apartment.

He checked his watch as he fumbled for the keys to the door. "3:00." he sighed.

"Ziva?" he called as he opened the door.

He didn't get an answer. He put the soup down on the table in the kitchen and walked to their bedroom to find her sleeping in bed with the tv on low.

He smiled at the sight and walked around to her side of the bed. He smoothed down her wild hair which Ziva had failed to tame in the messy bun in which she had put it in. He kissed her forehead softly and took off his shoes and coat before joining her on the other side.

Ziva mumbled something into the pillow as she stirred.

"hey, Ziva." Tony whispered.

Ziva's eyes fluttered open as she registered the fact that someone else was in her bed. She grabbed her gun from underneath her pillow and shoved it into her intruder's cheek.

"whoa, Ziva it's me." Tony said putting his hands up in surrender.

"oh, I'm sorry." Ziva said as her eyes focused to find Tony. She put her gun away.

"how are you feeling?" Tony asked.

"much better." Ziva smiled. Much, much better.

"good." Tony smiled.

"how's work?" Ziva asked.

"fine, slow. I'm 98% sure that the wife killed the petty officer."

"you always think it's the spouse." Ziva laughed.

"yeah well I'm mostly right now aren't I?" Tony laughed too and kissed her softly but didn't pull away. He deepened the kiss and slowly climbed on top of her. Ziva started pulling off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

Suddenly he felt Ziva stop and pull away.

"I don't think we have time for this." She said with her hands on his chest.

"we do if we hurry." Tony smiled and went back to kissing her.

She finally got his shirt off and Tony managed to pull hers off as well.

Neither of them heard the knocking on the door.

Ziva was pulling his pants down when they heard a loud crash.

"NCIS!" they heard men yell as they crashed through their bedroom door.

The room was immediately filled with a SWAT team. Tony sprung up just in time for them to grab him. They dragged Ziva up and threw her a shirt to throw on and cuffed her.

"HEY!" Tony yelled. "WHATS GOING ON?"

They started to push Ziva forward roughly.

That made Tony crazy. He fought against his captor and yelled.

"DONT YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" Tony yelled as they pushed her out of the room.

Finally another agent came in.

"EJ?" Tony said shocked.

"Tony, she's being taken in for treason." EJ said.

"what? All of their evidence is circumstancial!" Tony yelled. "why was I not told?"

"you got in too deep Tony." EJ said, raising her voice slightly.

"I was trying to protect her!" he yelled.

"exactly, you weren't doing your job Tony." EJ sighed. She didn't want to do all of this but it was her job. "you'll be lucky if you don't get charged with conspiracy to commit treason."

She left without another word, leaving Tony half dressed and thoroughly alone.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N: ahh! I'm super psyched right now because I just wrote a dynamite cliff hanger for a later chapter! Enjoy and review so I can post these sooner! Seriously REVIEW.

Tony threw his clothes back on and sped off to the Navy Yard. He ran up the stairs to the bullpen and then barged into Vance's office.

"Special Agent..." Vance started.

"where's Ziva?" Tony seethed.

"she's in interrogation with Special Agent Barret." he said calmly. Tony was livid.

"why was I not notified? I wasn't done investigating!" Tony yelled.

"oh, Special Agent DiNozzo, if that's what you call investigating then I want your badge and gun right now." Jarvis said from behind him.

Tony spun around to see a smug man in a leather chair.

"you don't have any real evidence!" Tony yelled.

"we have enough." Jarvis's face went cold.

"like what?"

"priveledged information." he said.

Tony was breathing heavily and he couldn't calm down.

"what the hell were you thinking?" Jarvis continued. "you completely disregarded your mission and decided to shack up with her."

"I love her!" Tony yelled.

"DiNozzo, she's going down. You're a good agent except for this mishap. Do you really want to go down with her?"

"yes." Tony growled and slammed the door shut as he walked away.

He blew by Gibbs as he walked out.

"what the hell?" Gibbs came in and yelled.

"one of your agents committed treason." Jarvis said. "we put DiNozzo on assignment to find out for sure but he got too close."

"you had no right not to inform me!" Gibbs yelled. "and I know that you don't have any evidence."

"actually I do. Special Agent Gibbs," Jarvis said. "we decrypted a call she received from the middle east."

"and?" Gibbs asked.

"it was from a terrorist organization." he said.

"that's bullshit." Gibbs said

"but it's the truth." Jarvis said adamantly.

Gibbs turned to Vance who just looked back, giving nothing away.

Gibbs gave Jarvis one last steely look and left. He walked quickly out and into the elevator. Right before the doors closed, someone stuck an arm through the doors and they opened back up.

"Leon." Gibbs said as the doors shut again and Vance shut the elevator off.

"I know you're pissed that I left you out of the loop Gibbs." Vance said.

"you're sure as hell." Gibbs snarled.

"It's because this is a very complex situation that I'm still unsure of."

"they arrested one of my Agents!" Gibbs yelled.

"I know. Jarvis has an agenda."

"and what exactly would that be?"

"I don't know yet but I do know that he targeted Ziva. That's why I put DiNozzo on this op. I knew that he would do whatever it took to save her, but he got in too deep." Vance said. Gibbs noticed the stress in his eyes and how this had been affecting him.

Gibbs paced in the small space that he had.

"what now?"

"I've notified the FBI and they're investigating Jarvis. His past is...murky." Vance said.

"What do we do about Ziva?" Gibbs asked.

"get her out of here." He said and slipped Gibbs two passports. He flipped the switch back on and exited.

Gibbs shut the doors and shut the elevator back off. He dialed a number on his phone.

"Hey Keith, I need a favor." Gibbs smiled.

"why am I here?" Ziva asked as soon as EJ walked in.

"You're here to be interrogated." She said.

Ziva gave her a 'duh' look. "and why?"

"you were charged with Treason."

"fine. You ask the questions." Ziva huffed and crossed her arms.

"thank you." EJ said, giving her a sickening smile.

"who have you been calling in the past few months in North Africa and the Middle East?"

"family. I am from Israel." Ziva answered easily because it was the truth.

"who, specifically?"

"my father, my aunt, and some distant family."

"that's a lie."

"no it is not." Ziva rolled her eyes.

"were you close with your brother?" EJ asked.

Ziva was thoroughly confused.

"yes...but-"

"but not with your father?"

"it was a complicat-"

"so you had a reason, to conspire with your brother." EJ said.

"no!" Ziva yelled.

"did you not read the part where I killed my brother because he was Hammas?" Ziva yelled. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she flashed back to that night in Gibbs's basement.

"or maybe that was because, you were Hammas And he was going to flip on you."

Ziva laughed. "you obviously have not been doing this very long or at least not very successfully. Why would my brother flip on me if we were so close?"

"maybe you really weren't that close. It wouldn't be the first time that you were duped into a fake relationship." EJ said confidently.

"it's not how you..." Ziva started.

"Michael Rivkin, Ray Cruz, Tony DiNozzo." she said harshly. "who knows how many before that."

Ziva's face completely fell. EJ saw her eyes go glassy and distant and she realized just what she had said. She knew that she had crossed the line. EJ was still bitter from her and Tony's ending.

"we both know that you have hidden things, vital things and information from NCIS before." EJ said. "tell me the truth, Ziva."

Two hours later, Gibbs finally gathered everyone in autopsy. They were all under one light in the corner.

"operation save Ziva part 2 commence." Abby smiled.

"do I get another codename or is mine still blacklung?" Palmer asked.

Everyone just kind of looked at him.

"still blacklung then." He said and looked down.

"anyway," Tony said seriously. "what do we have so far?"

"well, I've been looking into the so called 'evidence'." McGee said. "they have...all of this but I can't find anything to confirm or follow up on any of it. There's evidence but no evidence of the evidence. None of it makes any sense."

"well then it must be fabricated." Ducky said.

"we already know all that." Tony snapped.

Abby had only seen Tony this determind once before and that was when he thought Ziva was dead. He seemed to have aged ten years in the past few hours. She felt so bad for him. Love can do crazy things to people and she just hoped that this wouldn't be the end of him.

The elevator signaled someone's arrival and they all spun around to see Gibbs walking towards them.

"Gibbs!" Abby scolded. "you're late."

"I know. I was sorting some stuff out." Gibbs said. "I got a friend that is going to take Ziva up to New York then to Paris. Tony, you'll go straight to Paris. Vance got you two fake passports so you're set there. Jarvis is under investigation by the FBI, that's all I know right now. I'll take Ziva to Dulles, McGee takes DiNozzo. We move when security is switching shifts, Vance is on our side so the only one we have to worry about is Jarvis."

"Whoa." Jimmy said in disbelief. He'd never heard Gibbs say so much at once.

"any questions?" Gibbs asked.

Abby raised her hand and Gibbs nodded.

"I forgive you for being late." she said.

McGee cracked a smile and so did Ducky.

Tony still looked like he was about to murder someone.

All of this was happening so quickly. Jarvis had posted gaurds outside the interrogation in which they were holding Ziva so he couldn't even see her. He had paced and punched a walk but nothing had made him feel better. He couldn't take it. It was his fault that this was happening. He got too wrapped up in his new life and love that he forgot why this entire situation had happened. The assignment that he failed, in both Jarvis's eyes and his own but for completely different reasons. He couldn't believe his own incompetance. For once, he put his feelings before helping Ziva and now look what happened.

He had hardly noticed that everyone else was going over the details because he had his hands and arms locked out over a table with his head hanging.

Gibbs came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"it's my fault, just like it always is." Tony said.

"maybe. But Jarvis was going to do this no matter what you dug up." Gibbs said.

Tony didn't answer.

"do you really regret your relationship?" Gibbs asked.

"if I did what I promised myself that I would do, this wouldn't be happening. Maybe rule 12 was a pretty smart rule after all."

Gibbs headslapped him.

"Rule 51. You're wrong this time." Gibbs walked away from him and out to the elevator.

Tony turned around to see that everyone had already left.

He rubbed his face and went upstairs to the squadroom. He found McGee on the phone with someone speaking French. He didn't know McGee spoke French. He walked down the hall to the interrogation rooms. The gaurds were still there so he walked into observation. One tech was sitting by the monitors. Tony was semi shocked when he saw her. She had never seen her look so scared or confused. He figured that she would be just as mad as him. Tony's heart broke at the sight of her. In that moment, he really realised how much she had changed. She was vulnerable. He wanted to break the glass and climb in there just to hold her. He put his hand to the glass leaned his forehead on it. He didn't know how long he stayed there but McGee came in and told the tech he could leave.

Once the tech was gone, McGee spoke. "Tony, it's time to move."

"hang on, give me a little bit with her." Tony pleaded.

McGee sighed. "hurry."

Tony rushed out of the room and into the interrogation room.

"Ziva..." Tony as he embraced her.

"Tony, what going on?" she asked.

"Jarvis is setting you up." He said hurriedly. "I was trying to prove you were innocent."

"you knew?" She asked in confusion.

Tony sighed.

"They assigned me to look into you." he said softly.

Ziva's mouth opened as she felt the air rush from her chest.

"that doesn't mean that I don't love you-"

"Tony..." she said breathlessly. "no, no."

"Ziva..." Tony tried.

"you, you lied to me." she said almost spitting out the words. She was looking anywhere except for him.

"I didnt mean for it to happen this way. Ziva I was trying to clear you...then I fell-"

"then why is all of this happening?"

"Ziva, I need to know what you've been hiding." Tony pleaded.

"that is no one's business but my own." she said.

"Ziva I'm trying to help you!"

"how? By being with me?" she yelled.

"no, please, you have to trust me."

"how? I thought I could trust you Tony but obviously not!" she yelled. Hey face was red and tears were streaming down her face.

Tony's face showed only pain. First Jeanne now he was having a repeat with Ziva, the one woman who he's always had on his side.

"was any of it real?" she asked softly.

Tony struggled to take a breathe as everything seemed to crash down around him.

"yes. I do love you." he said truly.

"and why should I believe you?" she asked.

"because, I've always come for you." he said. "just like I'm doing now." he took out two French passports.

She looked up at him in shock.

"Tony... The cameras." she said.

"they're off. McGee's the only one in there. We'll flee, just the two of us, until Gibbs gets all of this figured out."

She swallowed hard and looke up at him. "Tony...there's something you have to know..."

There was a bang against glass, signaling their need to leave.

"it can wait, we have to go." Tony said. He took her hand and led her to the door. Another knock came through the door and Tony opened it to see McGee along with Abby with a worried but hopefull look on her face.

"let's go Tony." McGee said as he led them down the hallway quickly.

"we have to split you guys up for now," McGee said. "we're putting Ziva on a private flight up to New York then commercial with a new identity out of JFK."

Then Abby chimed in. "Tony you're going out of Dulles under an alias, since they're not on the lookout for you." she looked at them nervously. "yet."

They finally had left the building through the evidence garage. Gibbs was waiting for them in his old truck.

"Ziver with me." Gibbs said as he started the truck. "quickly, we don't have all night."

Both Tony and Ziva were surprised at the time. Ziva figured that she'd be in gitmo by now.

Tony turned to Ziva.

"we're gonna get through this." He said softly as he caressed her cheek.

"I..still am unsure.." she started but Tony's lips interrupted her.

"I know, but I'll do whatever it takes to get your trust back. Starting with this." he said. He kissed her forehead one last time and gave her a reassuring smile. Tony looked at Gibbs and they shared a glance that meant no words had to be spoken.

Ziva climbed into the truck. Tony thought she looked scared as they drove out of the garage.

He hugged Abby goodbye and got into the charger with Tim.

He had an odd feeling in his gut but he brushed it off. They were fleeing the country afterall. He had every right to be nervous. He hoped these thoughts were all the gut feeling was.

"you ok, Tony?" McGee asked as he drove.

"yeah," he sighed. "as ok as I'll be while running from the government with the woman that I love that no longer trusts me."

"we'll fix it Tony." the younger agent said knowingly. "well, Gibbs'll fix it."

"I'm scared Gibbs." Ziva said after about ten minutes of silence.

"I don't blame you." he said.

"this all, feels like a nightmare. One that starts out fantastic and just when I think it can't get any better, everything is gone." she said staring out the window.

Gibbs put his hand over hers on her thigh and wove his fingers with hers.

"I promise you that everything will turn out alright. DiNozzo has been trying to prove you innocent this entire time. While he was doing so, he finally admitted his feelings." he looked at her. "you can trust him."

"he did the same with Jeanne, Gibbs." Ziva said as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Ziva, Tony has always loved you." Gibbs said. "and I was wrong, to..."

"stop." she said. "you're never wrong. If you're wrong, then hope is lost."

Gibbs hated the way she spoke and how he had created this unbreakable enigma about himself. He was human afterall.

they stayed silent for a few moments.

"Gibbs...there's something I need to tell you..." Ziva started but she was interrupted by Gibbs's com.

"We're arriving at Dulles." McGee's voice came over.

"we're in the back." Gibbs replied.

They stopped the truck on an airstrip with a lone cessna on the runway.

"The pilot's an old..." Gibbs started, but gunshots ripped through the night's silence.

"we're arriving at Dulles." McGee said into the com.

"we're in the back." Gibbs replie.

"we hooked you up with a cute little place on the outskirts of Paris. It's above a little boutique..." McGee said trying to lightenthe situation.

"crack, crack, crack.." McGee's com sounded.

McGee looked at Tony who's face had gone white.

"Gibbs status report!" Tony yelled.

"Gibbs! Coming in for backup." McGee said through the com as he and Ziva took cover by the truck.

"Ziva!" she heard Tony yell through the com.

"stay down." said Gibbs as he fired off a couple of rounds in the direction of the shooter.

Just then another much louder shot was fired.

"ahh!" Ziva yelled as she fell to the ground clutching her thigh.

"Gibbs." she gasped.

When the next burst of bullets subsided, he picked her up and put her in the truck. He floored it out to the plane as bullets followed. Two black SUVs followed them, both with machine guns sticking out of the windows.

"where?" Gibbs asked quickly.

"my leg." Ziva winced.

Gibbs glanced over to see an alarming amount of blood coming out of Ziva's thigh.

The plane started up and began moving forward just as they got there. A man was at the door and helped Ziva in as Gibbs drove alongside it.

She was half in when another much louder shot was fired.

"she's hit!" Gibbs yelled.

Ziva winced as she began to feel the searing hotness in her arm.

"I got her!" the man yelled and pulled Ziva in. Gibbs peeled away and yanked his truck around. Airport security had finally decided to show up and was hot onthe SUV's tiretracks.

Airport security cut them off as Gibbs drove to the entrance where was met by McGee and Tony.

"boss!" Tony yelled as he rushed from the car. "wheres Ziva?"

"she's on the plane." Gibbs said breathlessly.

Then Tony noticed the blood in the passenger seat of Gibbs's truck.

"Gibbs..." Tony said quietly, looking at him. He suspected who the blood once belonged to but he prayed that he was wrong.

In one glance Tony's suspicions were confirmed.

Gibbs picked up his phone. "Vance, I need a forensics team out here now. SecNav isn't the only one after Ziva."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A/N: alrighty, slightly shorter chap but I still think it's pretty ok. Anywho, I have pretty much written or thought out everything and now I'm just messing with the technical junk...ugh my least favorite. Thanks again for the support please feel free to give me feedback on your way out. (in other words, REVIEW!) also to the MaraudersSnake, I am on cliffhanger monster juice right now so...I think I've written 3 or 4 dynamite ones in about 24 hours.

Abby hated this place, it was all concrete and dreary. The clouds that threatened to unleash a torrential downpour didn't help. Abby stood stone still about 4 feet away from the dried blood puddle on the Tarmac. She tried to think of this as just any other case but then again, she wouldn't be here on just any other case. That was Ziva's blood. Her friend, the closest thing she'd ever have to a sister was gone, and hurt, and maybe even...no. She couldn't think that.

She jumped as a hand was placed gently on her shoulder.

"come on Abby." McGee said. "you don't have to be here."

"yes I do, Tim." she said strongly. Without another thought, she walked the few feet towards the blood and started her work.

"Boss, there's gotta be some way to track the plane." Tony said for the umpteenth time as he walked behind Gibbs.

"I've told you before DiNozzo, we took the GPS out because we're not the only ones who can track it that way." Gibbs growled. He didn't like this, not one bit.

"Keith will get in touch with me when they land." Gibbs replied. "which should be in about 30 minutes."

"how much do you..." Tony started.

"with my life." Gibbs spun around and cut him off. With that, he walked back out to the crime scene from the group of homeland security, NCIS, and NSA cars.

Tony was frantic. He couldn't stand still. He was worried and he was angry that he let her leave without getting back her trust. He paced and he checked his phone countless times. He finally slammed his palms against the side of the NCIS van. Fornell walked around and stood beside him.

"DiNutso, where's Gibbs?" he asked.

Tony turned around in surprise.

"a plane had a rough crash landing near Boston about 25 minutes ago. 1 guy was found dead in the wreckage with a hell of a lot of blood in the back." He said.

Tony's face was emotionless and white as a sheet.

"Any sign of the survivors?" Gibbs asked from behind Fornell.

"no." He replied. "we're checking satelite images but the area was surrounded by a huge forest. It'll take my boys awhile."

Tony gave Gibbs a questioning look.

"I figured we could use the help." Gibbs shrugged. "get McGee and one of your phirensics team out there now."

"I already have a team up there." Fornell said. "they're shipping the body to Dr. Mallard."

"I want copies of everything, and I mean everything." Gibbs said and walked back out to the crime scene.

David Carlson sat in the NCIS interrogation room with his hands cuffed behind his back. He hated this part of his job. He looked at the one way glass, willing someone to finally get in here. He'd been there for hours and was hungry. He couldn't help but think that he should've chosen a more stable job. One with set lunch hours. The problem was, this job payed better.

The man was broken away from his musings as Gibbs entered the room.

Gibbs sat down and slid a picture of Ziva towards the man.

"why?" Gibbs growled.

"because I was told to do so." said David.

"you're what, French?" Gibbs smiled notin the man's accent.

"Yes." David said.

"Who told you to kill her?" Gibbs asked.

"my boss."

"did your boss say why?"

"no, I do what I am told. I do not get any unneccesary information." he said.

"I'm gonna need to talk to your boss." Gibbs said.

McGee opened the room to interrogation. "boss, Abby and Ducky both have something."

Without a word, Gibbs looked David in the eyes and left the room.

Gibbs and McGee rode down to Abby's lab.

"Abs." Gibbs said as he walked up to her.

To his surprise Ducky was also with her. Abby and Ducky both turned and faced Gibbs.

"you first Abigail."

"the plane was surprisingly clean except for the huge amounts of blood." she pulled pictures up on her plasma.

"no fingerprints, not even on the controls. The blood in the cockpit, I've matched to our dead guy, Samuel Janes, retired commercial airline pilot, also a friend of retired Gunny Keith Mitchel." Abby looked at Ducky who promptly started speaking.

"Mr. Janes suffered sever blunt force trauma which turned out to be his demise."

Tony walked in silently behind the group.

"the blood in the back matched, Ziva's." Abby said sadly.

"judging by the amount of blood at the airport and on the plane, her chances of...survivial, are not exactly looking good." Ducky said letting the words sink in.

Tony felt like he was suffocating.

"that's not all Gibbs," Abby said. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "I ran Ziva's blood and I found something."

"what?" Gibbs asked.

"there were strong levels of human choreonic glynetatrophin." Abby said. She was struggling to keep her composure.

"meaning?" McGee asked.

"she was pregnant." Tony said emotionlessly.

The room was silent as the weight of Tony's words crashed down on them.

A/N: ohp. He knows. Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: thanks for all the reviews and don't worry, no one will die. Yet.

Tony felt numb as he walked through the rain downtown. He was soaking wet but he didn't care. All he cared about was her. He walked a few more blocks and finally stopped at a small cafe. It was fairly empty except for one man in the corner and a young couple by the wall. Tony walked over to the seat opposite him.

"This seat taken?" he asked.

"It's all yours." Malachi Ben-Gidon said as he picked his head up from the newspaper he was reading.

"How's Ziva?" Malachi asked as Tony sat down.

"we can't find her but Ducky, thinks that after all the blood loss..." Tony trailed off knowing that there was no need to continue. Malachi pushed a cup of coffee his way and he accepted gratefully.

"I have a contact in Boston that I've told to be on the lookout. He said that he saw a woman that resembled Ziva downtown buying a train ticket. Then again, Boston is a very big city." he said. He picked up his coffee and took a sip. "my contact lost the woman shortly after, she also had no signs of physical harm so it is unlikely her."

"Eli is very worried." Malachi said. "He is distracted."

"What do you know about the guys that showed up at Dulles?" Tony asked suddenly.

"We think that they are guns for hire. We have had no more luck tracking down the man giving the orders than you have." he sighed. "There is something that Eli is keeping a secret and I think that is the same secret that Ziva has been keeping from you."

"any ideas?" Tony asked.

Malachi looked around, he continued but the volume of his voice was much lower.

"Ziva has been trying to contact Ari's half-sister, Alina. She was a doctor in Gaza like her mother but she disappeared shortly after the Hamas suicide bombing that killed Ziva's sister Tali. The odd thing was that, we found Alina a year later, in France, under an assumed name. No one knows why or where she is now." he finished.

"the guys that chased Ziva on the Tarmac are French." Tony said.

"Mossad is thinking that this may be connected to an up and coming French arms dealer. This arms dealer has known connections to Hamas and Al Qaeda." Malachi said as he swept the room with his eyes again. "but it is only speculation that this dealer is involved."

"so we have nothing." Tony said defeated.

"pretty much." Malachi said. "but, Mossad is very tuned into all of our inter-national channels right now. We will find out what is going on."

Tony sighed. Malachi looked at him and Tony spilled.

"With the amount blood found at both crime scenes that was Ziva's, our M.E. doesn't think that she could've survived."

Malachi's expression saddened.

"that's not all." Tony said. He took a deep breath and tried to tell himself that the walls were not closing in. There was air in the room, and he was not suffocating. "She was pregnant."

"Ray's?" Malachi asked quickly.

"no, mine." Tony said, then a thought hit him. "what's CI-Ray been up to lately?"

"he's in Tel Aviv last we knew. The CIA is up to something but they're trying to keep us out of the loop. Kort is involved in there somewhere." Malachi said.

Tony rubbed his face with his hands. "you've got to be kidding me."

Malachi's phone vibrated and he picked it up.

"This is odd." Malachi scrunched up his face. "I'm sorry but I have to go." he said quickly and stood up.

"wait! Is it Ziva?" Tony asked as he got up and caught Malachi by the arm.

"no but it could be related." he said and started walking again but Tony stopped him.

"don't tell, Eli, about Ziva's...our baby." Tony said pleadingly. "if she can't tell him herself...I would like to."

Malachi smiled softly and reassuringly before he quickly walked out of the door and down the street.

Tony was left standing by the table, feeling utterly alone. All of these people were trying to figure out what was going on but no one was getting anywhere and it baffled him.

He walked solemnly out into the night promising himself that he would find her, alive and well with their child.

"are you alright?" The man that pulled her in asked.

"no, one bullet went into my thigh, I don't think it hit anything important." she winced as she continued applying pressure to her wound. "one through and through in my bicep."

"it's a miracle that one was through and through and not through and through and back in." the man said checking her torso for blood. "my name's Keith by the way." he said as he patched up her arm and stopped the bleeding. He was a middle aged looking man with sandy blonde hair and a deep southern accent.

Ziva grunted and attempted a smile in acknowledgement.

"we're going to land just outside of Boston." he held up a passport and driver's license. "you're Anita Swanson, 28 years old. Involved in a drive by but you can't remember where or when or who. Got it?" he asked.

Ziva was having trouble focusing and she felt light headed.

"Tony..." Ziva murmured. "tell Tony...I'm pregnant..."

Keith's eyes opened up a little wider.

"Sam, we gotta land early, she needs real medical help now. She's pregnant and she's lost a good bit of blood already." Keith yelled over the roar of the engines.

"that won't be a problem because they I'm having some technical difficulties with our plane." Sam yelled back. "we won't make it to Boston but we'll be pretty close."

"can ya' hang on for another half hour?" Keith asked her.

She nodded while squeezing her eyes shut tight.

"I promise you, that we'll get ya' help and keep ya' safe." he said smoothly.

The half hour passed in what seemed like 3 hours to Ziva. She still hadn't stopped bleeding and she was floating on the border of consciousness.

"Keith!" Sam yelled.

"what?"

"I don't know! Everything just stopped working!" Sam yelled.

Everyone felt a strong jolt and the plane start to dip down.

Keith looked out the small window and saw that the left wing had caught fire. But how?

"STRAP HER IN TIGHT!" Sam yelled. "WE'RE IN FOR A ROUGH LANDING."

The plane's speed got faster and faster as gravity pulled it back to earth.

Ziva didn't know if this was real or if she was just delirious. Keith had strapped her in tightly and she couldn't move.

She could see Sam in the cockpit, struggling for control. Keith shuffled over to her and strapped himself in.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Sam yelled.

Ziva felt them start slowing down as they hit the tops of trees. Suddenly the plane flat out dropped. Ziva's head hit the side of the plane and everything went black.

"errrr..." she groaned. The only part of her body that she could feel was her head and it was pounding. She had to pry her opens open. She looked around to see that they had crashed. Her vision was hazy but she could make out the fire that was engulfing the front end of the plane.

Suddenly she felt Keith unbuckle her and pick her up. He took her out if the plane and once they were a safe distance away, he set her down.

He took out his phone and called someone. He said a few quick words that sounded distorted to Ziva. He put his phone back in his pocket.

"can you walk?" he asked her.

She managed to nod and picked herself up. Her leg hurt but she had dealt with worse. She took a moment to see that they had just exited a small clearing and were now going deeper in the woods. Keith had already started walking slowly while he tried to find some sort of trail. She caught up with him and they walked for what seemed like an hour before they hit a road.

"Keith..." Ziva started, out of breathe. Her headache was only getting worse and her limbs had gone numb.

Before he could answer, a car pulled up beside them and Keith opened the door for her to get in.

She smiled weakly and climbed in the back. Keith followed and shut the door behind him.

Ziva laid her head back and shut her eyes. She was exhausted and felt terrible. She prayed that none of her injuries were enough to hurt her baby.

"Ziva, don't go to sleep." Keith said. He looked at her bandages to see that minimal blood had gone through the one in her arm. "I think this one'll be fine." he then proceeded to check the one on her thigh. More blood than he wanted was found on the bandage.

"Sarah, you're gonna have to stitch her up when we get back to your place." Keith said. "and get the bullet out." he added.

"is it that bad?" Ziva asked. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her child.

"i don't think so." he said and moved to her head. "lean forward."

She did as he said. He tried to push her hair away buy when he did, she winced and flinched.

"jeez," he sighed as he looked at the gash on the back of her head. It was completely bruised around the cut which didn't seem to be too deep. Keith was more worried about the impact. She probably had a concussion.

"what?" she asked.

"we won't be able to move for a few days." he said.

"what about you Keith?" the woman in the front asked.

"I'm fine." he said and leaned back in his seat. He rubbed his face with his hands.

"but Sam isn't." he sighed. "he's dead, she's hurt," he threw out a hand. "and pregnant."

"how far along?" Sarah said quickly.

"11 weeks." Ziva said slowly.

"We'll go by Dr. Chandler's first then." Sarah said.

"we can't risk anyone seeing us." Keith said firmly.

"Well, we won't have to worry about being seen if something goes wrong and they both die." Sarah said.

Ziva's stomach lurched at the thought and she put a hand on her stomach protectively.

The car was silent as they drove further down the road. They finally turned down another road and into a driveway.

"where are we?" Ziva asked.

"Margaretville, Massachutes. Population 653." Sarah said. "Quiet and quaint."

She opened the door and then opened Ziva's. She helped Ziva out and started walking. Ziva stumbled the first couple of steps and Sarah came back to help.

"I'm fine." Ziva insisted and tried to shake her guiding hands off.

Keith chuckled behind them. "Gibbs told me you were stubborn."

Sarah led them inside the front door to find a middle aged man with dark hair awaiting them.

"Dr. Wyatt Chandler." Sarah introduced.

"hi," the man smiled brightly. "I was told to be on call this morning."

Ziva finally thought about it, it had to be around 2 am. She mentally cursed herself for not paying attention to all of this. She had been in a worry induced haze.

"right this way." Dr. Chandler said and led the way down the hall and into an exam room.

Ziva went in and lay down on the exam table. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves.

Dr. Chandler came over. "let's have a look." he said. He unbandaged her arm and looked at the wound. He disinfected it and stitched it up. He then moved onto her thigh.

"looks like the bullet's still in there." he said while looking at her thigh.

"I'm going to need you to do me a favor and put a gown on for me and we're going to need to move into the room next door." Dr. Chandler said.

"Dr..." Ziva started.

"please, just Wyatt." he smiled.

"I um... I'm pregnant." she said slowly. Her mouth had gone dry.

A shadow appeared over his face.

"well, that complicates things a little. I have a few supplies for emergency delivery and monitoring but I'm not really an OB/GYN." he said. "how far along are you?"

"11 weeks." she said uneasily.

"have you had any bleeding or cramping?" he asked.

Ziva shook her head.

He took her blood pressure and temperature.

"you're bp is slightly higher than I would like, and you have a slight fever." he said. Noticing her worried look, "It may distress the baby but for right now, I think it's fine. You're not out of the woods yet though."

He looked at her head wound and cleaned it up.

"alright," he said and handed her a gown. "I need you to change into this and I'll be getting our makeshift operating room ready." he smiled reassuringly but it didn't help calm Ziva.

She couldn't believe that she was here, that this had all happened. It was pure insanity to think that this could ever even happen. Suddenly she felt overwhelmed and powerless. She didn't know who to trust or why because everyone seemed to have betrayed her. Then she remembered Tony's words to her and she prayed to god that he was alright. She wished that their relationship was real and that none of this had happened. She wanted to be in love with Tony, get married, have his child, and grow old together but she knew that that couldn't happen. She struggled to control her breathing and hold back the tears but in the end, she failed. She let the sobs wrack her body for a moment before trying to regain her composure. She heard the door creak and open slightly before Sarah came in. It was the first time that Ziva had really looked at her. She was a pretty woman with light brown hair, maybe in her early thirties.

"you need a hand?" she asked.

Ziva took a deep breath and smiled through the tears.

"I think I have it." she said and got of the table and started to take her clothes off. Ziva stumbled while trying to remove her jeans but Sarah caught her. She smiled softly and helped Ziva get the gown on.

"you must be terrified." she said softly.

"I am." Ziva replied. "I would give anything for..." she trailed off as she felt her eyes start to prickle as the onslaught of tears prepared to fall.

"I understand." she said. "I can't have kids, and when I found out, my husband was on a business trip in New York. I felt, utterly alone."

"I'm sorry." Ziva said sadly.

"I'm not," Sarah said. "you learn to live with what you have and be thankful for that."

"that is smart." Ziva said with a small smile.

The two were interrupted by Wyatt poking his head through the door. "we're all set." he said.

The two women followed him into the room next door which had an operating table on it with a few machines around it.

"the equipment is a little old but it's never really been used so I think we'll be alright." he said and helped Ziva lay down.

Ziva was about to ask Sarah to stay but she seemed to already know that that was what Ziva desired. Sarah sat down on a stool on the opposite side of the table.

"I'm going to give you an ultrasound to check out your baby first and then I'll take care of your leg." Wyatt said.

Ziva nodded and winced slightly as he smeared a cold goo over her stomach. She could hardly tell that she was showing, herself.

"sorry." he said and looked at the monitor as he slid the wand around her stomach. He kept doing that for about a minute. A minute of agony for Ziva.

"I'm having a little trouble finding a...whoops! I forgot to turn the volume up." he said and turned a nob on the machine. Now, a steady "schwoo,schwoo,schwoo..." could be heard throughout the room. Ziva smiled and relaxed a little.

"looks...good..." he said and turned off the monitor. He handed her a towel to wipe herself off with.

He took a disk type thing out of a plastic wrapper. He attached grey straps and fastened them around her middle, letting the disk rest near the top of her hip but level on her stomach.

"I don't know how well that this will monitor your baby since it's so early in your pregnancy but hopefully it'll alert us if anything starts to go wro..." he noticed Ziva's worried expression. "if anything happens." he corrected himself.

He hooked her up to a saline drip and morphine.

"I don't have much morphine so we'll have to work fast." Wyatt told Sarah who nodded.

Wyatt set to work. Ziva shut her eyes tightly and rested her hand on her stomach, wishing that she could feel her baby's heartbeat.

A short time later, Ziva heard a clank and realized that the bullet had been removed. Wyatt had sewn her leg up shortly after that. He cleaned her up and checked the baby monitor.

"I think the both you will be fine but be very attentive. If there's any bleeding, spotting, or cramping, please get to a hospital." Wyatt said.

Ziva nodded and got up after Wyatt unhooked the Ivs from her arm.

Ziva started walking out into the hallway when Keith ran back.

"FBI's here. We're not." he said quickly and helped Sarah half carry Ziva to the back room.

Wyatt pulled a sweatshirt on over his slightly bloodied shirt and walked out to the waiting room.

"can I help you?" he asked.

"FBI Agents Callaway and Sheehan." one agent said. "are you usually here this late?"

"sometimes." Wyatt said. "I had to finish up some paperwork and fell asleep I guess." He feigned a yawn.

"have you had any patients, this morning or last night?" The agent asked.

"I had Bobby Jenkins come in for a cold at about 8 pm but he was the last one." Wyatt said. "what's this about?"

"a plane crashed in the woods about 10 miles from here." the other agent said. "please contact us if any survivors show up."

"will do." Wyatt said slightly nervously.

The agents took one more, swift look around before leaving.

Wyatt walked back to the backroom.

"coast's clear." he said and opened the door only to find it empty. A single note and fifty dollar bill lay on a filing cabinet.

A/N: ahh...I'm starting to get writer's block! No! Help me by reviewing please! (I really can't figure out where to go next, yes I was wrong before about everything being figured out. I'm not just saying it to get reviews but they would be appreciated. Ok done rambling.)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N: sorry for the lack of updates but I suddenly have gotten very busy, out of the blue. Also I leave Saturday and I won't have Internet access until fridayish...I'll do my best to write while I'm gone but I highly doubt that that will happen. I've also been doing some rewriting and what-not with the little time that I've had to write lately. Please stick with this, it's slow as of now but I promise it speeds WAY up in the near future. Thanks for all of your support and now, I leave you with this chapter. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.

(Gibbs's basement) 6 am

"jeez, do you ever sweep in here Gibbs?" Fornell asked as he walked down the stairs into Gibbs's basement.

"no need. More'll just pile up." Gibbs said without looking up from his tools and wood. Fornell could see that he was building a piece of furniture.

He slapped a large file down in front of Gibbs who didn't look up.

"top secret dossier on Secretary of the Navy, Clayton Jarvis." Fornell said.

Gibbs looked up at him in question.

"FBI is investigating him. He's had an awful lot of Middle Eastern contact in the past 6 months. He's certainly no friend of the Mossad either." Fornell said.

"you think he had an ulterior motive for putting Tony on Ziva." Gibbs said.

"and so does the bureau." Fornell said.

"does Vance know?"

"yes. But we honestly don't have much. Jarvis has more black bars in his file than Vance did." Fornell said.

"then why'd you bring me this?" Gibbs asked, setting down his wood and picking up the file.

"I figured that you may see something that I missed."

"I'm on it." Gibbs said.

Fornell went to leave but stopped at the foot of his stairs.

"How's DiNozzo taking all of this?"

"worried out of his mind. She's pregnant."

"with his baby. Jeez." Fornell half laughed. "it's about damn time."

Gibbs chuckled and opened up Jarvis's file.

With that, Fornell climbed the stairs and left.

Tony hadn't slept the entire night. Thoughts of Frenchmen and Mossad swirled through his head as he sat against the wall of he and Ziva's apartment. He realized that it was almost 8 am and begrudgingly picked himself up but accidentally slipped and fell back down. His hand had crushed an empty beer bottle and he felt blood trickle down his wrist.

"shit." he muttered to himself and walked to the bathroom. He put a towel on his wounds and got a bandage out of the cupboard. He dropped the towel into the trash bin but something caught his eyes. A pink piece of cardboard with the word 'test' written on it. Tony uncovered the rest of the box and picked it up.

"pregnancy test." he whispered to himself as he read the box. "+ for positive, - for negative."

He tipped the box over to find a white, plastic stick with a small, pink plus sign on it. He let the information sink in. He felt his whole body numb again. He was going to be a father. It was really hitting him now. Now that he had undisputable evidence in his hand. This wasn't just some nightmare. This was real. If Ziva...no he couldn't think about that. He kept telling himself that Ziva was alive. She was hiding out in a little house in Mass. He dropped the box and ran to his room. He changed his clothes and threw a few things into his bag before he ran out of their apartment and down to his car.

At this point, his driving rivaled Ziva's, as he swerved through the early morning rush hour. He finally got to the Navy yard and to NCIS. He bolted into the bullpen and started writing a note to Gibbs. Once he finished, he put it on his desk and headed back towards the elevator. Just as he was about to get in, The elevator doors opened revealing Gibbs who looked surprised and then angry. He pulled Tony in and shut the doors. He turned the emergency switch on.

"what the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled at Tony. "do you use your head?"

Tony didn't understand.

"Secnav is upstairs chewing Vance out for convincing him to let you do this op!" Gibbs whisper yelled.

"boss..."

"you're lucky you haven't been arrested yet for helping Ziva escape!"

"what about you?" Tony said angrily.

"I modified the report, you were the one in the truck. Not me. You can afford to get thrown off of this case. I can't." Gibbs said firmly.

Tony understood and begrudgingly admitted to himself that it was a good plan.

"now what?" Tony asked.

"you get out of here. Get out of D.C. Until the smoke clears a little." Gibbs said.

"we could lose Ziva if she's not already dead!" Tony yelled.

"she's with someone I trust with my life, DiNozzo. She'll be fine with him." Gibbs said.

Tony's jaw was clenched and his lips pressed into a fine line. His fists were bunched by his sides.

Gibbs looked into the man's eyes and put a hand on his shoulder.

"we'll find her. And we'll get them." he paused. "FBI is investigating Secnav."

Tony was shocked. "for what?" he asked.

"all of this. Plus some of his past." Gibbs said.

Tony smiled. "I'm going to check out Massachutes."

"let me know if you find anything." Gibbs said an flipped the switch so the elevator would come back on. They rode down to the lobby and Tony bolted from the metal box as soon as the doors opened.

Tony drove for four hours straight finally arriving in Margaretville. It was The closest civilization to the crash site.

"civilization?" Tony said a he got out of his car at a small diner. There was a slight drizzle but Tony barely noticed. The town was tiny and almost completely composed on one or two long streets.

A bell rang as he walked in, alerting the older woman behind that counter that someone had entered.

The older woman smiled at him. "welcome."

Tony sat down on the bar stool and picked up a menu.

"what can i get for you, hun?" she asked.

Tony looked at her name tag.

"a cup of coffee, and a breakfast burrito." Tony smile back. "Bev."

"alrighty." she went to go get his coffee.

Tony looked around the diner. There was another man down the bar, and an elderly couple at a booth, and a young family at a table.

"just passing through?" Bev came back with his coffee. Tony took it and used it to warm his hands.

"yeah," Tony said, looking at the cup of coffee.

He could hear the parents with their kids and he bit his lip as he willed the pain to go away.

"Where you from?" she asked.

"D.C." Tony replied. "you didn't happen to see this woman around here in the past day?" Tony slid a picture of Ziva out of his wallet. It was his favorite of her. The picture had been taken by Abby only a week ago. Tony had his arms around her and they were both laughing as Tony tried to hold her and she was trying to get away.

Bev looked at it. "no, I can't say that I have." she smiled. "she's beautiful though. You're a lucky man."

"yeah." Tony smiled and rubbed his finger over her face, wishing that he could touch her again.

She brought out Tony's food which he ate quickly. He put a twenty dollar bill on the bar even though his tab was barely half of that.

He pulled up the collar of his jacket and went to leave when Bev stopped him.

"maybe you should try Dr. Chandler's clinic down the street. I hope you find her." Bev smiled and went back to wiping the counter.

Tony walked down the street through the rain that had gotten slightly heavier since he had pulled into town.

He climbed the brick stairs up to the clinic and walked into the waiting room.

Tony walked over to the doorway which opened a hallway.

"Dr. Chandler." Tony called.

A man with light hair and blue eyes walked out of one of the rooms.

"Wyatt." he said and offered Tony his hand with a smile.

Tony shook it and took the picture out of his wallet.

"have you seen this woman?"

Wyatt looked at the picture and quickly looked away.

"no. I'm sorry but I can't help you." he replied.

Tony noticed his tension and knew he was lying.

Wyatt turned around and started walking back but Tony stopped him.

"Dr., Please." Tony pleaded. "I have to find her. She's all I have."

Wyatt faced him.

Tony held up his badge and I.D. "she's my partner."

Wyatt sighed. "she came in very early this morning with 2 bullet wounds and a head injury. I fixed her up and she left."

"was she with anyone?" Tony asked.

"a man named Keith, and Sarah Kinsley." Wyatt said. "Sarah's an old friend of mine."

"How uhm, was her..." Tony stuttered.

"her baby was fine. It was nothing short of a miracle though. Usually with that sort of trauma, especially since she was still in the first trimester, she would've miscarried." Wyatt noticed Tony's face go white as a sheet. "you're the father aren't you?"

"yes." Tony swallowed hard.

"she won't be completely out of the woods for a while yet but I'm fairly confident that they will be all right." Wyatt smiled reassuringly. "they're in good hands."

"did they happen to mention where they were going?" Tony asked.

"no, the FBI came around asking questions and they bolted right after I got finished with her." Wyatt said. "I'm sorry I don't know anything else."

"thank you for your time Dr." Tony forced a smile and left.

Tony walked back down to his car and sat inside for a while. Ziva was safe. At least she was a few hours ago. Tony tried to force himself to believe that she was safe. He knew that he had to stop looking for her and focus on finding whoever wanted her dead.

A/N: I may or may not post another chap before I leave, it depends on how much I get written and how fast I clean and pack.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N: this stuff happens at the same time in this chap. Sorry it took so long, but I am back and feeling awesome and breaking through my writer's block!

Ziva hated road trips. She was bored, sore, and tired. Not to mention worried. She could not just sit there for hours on end.

After a few hours of driving, they stopped at an exit just north of the outskirt of Boston. They checked into a small hotel. Ziva walked into the room to find two double beds, a small bathroom, and a kitchenette.

"very...homely." Ziva said slowly as she sat down on the edge of the far bed.

Keith gave her an odd look before slinging himself down on the bed opposite of her.

"where do we go now?" Ziva asked.

"we get you to Paris from here." he said.

"What about Tony?" she asked.

"don't know." Keith said, slightly annoyed.

"then why must I go to Paris?" she asked adamantly.

"we shouldn't move her Keith." Sarah said and rubbed her temples.

"the doctor said that she was fine." Keith growled.

"Keith, he said she wasn't out of the woods and I know enough that she needs to rest for at least a week before we even think about moving her." Sarah said adamantly.

Keith ignored Sarah's protests. "you'll be safe there. That was the plan. Now go to sleep. You both need it." he grunted.

Ziva hated the fact that he was right. She was thankful that he had helped her this far but she believed that she could handle taking care of herself.

She dozed for about an hour while Keith and Sarah did the same. She woke up, lonely and hungry. She walked into the kitchenette to see nothing on the countertop except for Keith's phone. Ziva grabbed it before she quickly and stealthily snuck out of their room. She walked down to the parking lot where she saw a small breakfast restaurant just across the street. The road wasn't busy and Ziva crossed with ease.

She felt safe enough to where she could call someone now. But who? Tony would be going crazy trying figure out where she was, and Abby...Abby. McGee wouldn't be a bad choice but she felt like she needed a father figure at the moment so she dialed Gibbs's number.

"Gibbs." she heard him say.

"Gibbs." she said quickly. She couldn't help her voice crack a little.

"Ziver." he sounded slightly off but maybe he was just over stressed.

"What now Gibbs?" she was scared.

"I don't know right now." he said softly.

Ziva waited for him to say that he was joking but he didn't.

"I don't want to leave Gibbs." she pleaded. "this is about me...somehow, or my father. Either way, I need to help you."

"Ziver, think of your baby. What if something else happens? Please just keep yourself safe for all of our sanities." Gibbs sighed.

Ziva felt like a burden on all of them. They shouldn't have to deal with all of that.

"Ok, Gibbs." she said, trying to hold back tears.

"I promise everything will work out Ziva." he said.

"please, tell Tony...that I trust him. And...about the baby." she smiled to herself sadly.

"will do, and he already knows." and with that he hung up.

Ziva snapped the phone shut and walked into the restaurant. She felt slightly better knowing that Tony knew but then again, what if he didn't want a child? They had only been together for a short time after all. She decided that it was better not to think about such things.

She sat down at a booth in the back. A waiter handed her a menu and took her order. She was surprised by how busy the restaurant was. There were couples, families, teenagers, and older people all there.

She looked over to see a young couple with a small girl, no older than 4. They were all smiles and giggles.

Ziva smiled at the thought of her and Tony like that someday. If they ever got out of this mess that was.

Ziva was shaken from her thoughts by Keith and Sarah sliding onto the bench opposite her.

"what are you trying to do? Scare us have to death?" Keith said grumpily.

"I was hungry and wanted pancakes." Ziva replied. "with peanut butter and green beans."

Keith rolled his eyes and Sarah just laughed.

"I am so happy that I never reproduced." Keith said while reading his menu.

"you had me." Sarah said.

"nieces are different than daughters. I don't have to crack the whip on you as hard." he said.

Sarah snorted. "like you would ever crack a whip at anyone." she turned to Ziva. "don't let him fool you Ziva, he's a big softie."

"am not." Keith said adamantly. "I'm a damn marine."

Sarah put her hand up, blocking Keith from seeing her lips and mouthed "softie" to Ziva.

Ziva chuckled.

"I saw that." Keith said without putting down his menu.

The waiter brought Ziva her food and her eyes lit up like Christmas lights. She started shoveling her food down.

Keith looked at her, feigning disgust.

"again, I am so happy I did not reproduce. I couldn't deal with a woman who ate me out of my own house." Keith sniggered.

Ziva gave him the evil eye but he smiled back goodheartedly.

They each ate their meal and paid the bill. Ziva walked out into the sunlight and enjoyed feeling the of the sun on her skin. She shut her eyes and imagined that she was back on a beach in Israel. Ari, Tali, her mother, and even her father were there. Everything was perfect.

She was broken away from her daydream by Sarah putting a hand on her shoulder. Ziva looked over to see her smiling reassuringly. The three walked back to the hotel in a content silence.

Ziva stopped short on the curb by where their car was parked and held up her hand to signal the other two to stop.

"what is it?" Keith asked her.

"something is off." Ziva said slowly as she looked around. She scanned the parking lot to see a black van at the far end of the lot. The windows were tinted and there weren't any identifying marks.

She signaled for them to look and they did. They ducked behind the car.

"we can leave right off." Keith said.

"I'm going to see who it is." Ziva said and started slinking towards the bushes.

"Ziva!" Sarah whispered loudly but it was too late because Ziva was already a good 15 feet away, ducking behind the bushes.

She snuck around to the end of the parking lot and thankfully, a fairly large tree was adjacent to the truck. She didn't see anything else on the back except for a license plate. A government official license plate. She was a fugitive, now on the run. This couldn't be good.

She quickly got back to the car and told Keith and Sarah about the plates.

"what now?" Sarah asked.

"I have a plan." Ziva said. "go up to the van, ask for directions. Distract them. We'll go back down to the gas station by the breakfast place. We'll go around back and wait for you there."

She felt a small smile cross over her face. This was something that she and Tony would've done if the situation had presented itself. Then they would've bantered back and forth over their successful getaway and what exactly Ziva said to thoroughly distract them. But Tony was not there. That would never happen.

Ziva and Keith got in the car slowly and watched Sarah walk over from to the van. Ziva saw her twirl her hair and wink, giving them the signal to go.

Keith chuckled and started out of the parking lot. They made their way down the road. Ziva kept checking behind them nervously but never did see the van.

They drove behind the gas station.

Keith sighed. "and now we wait."

"Yes." Ziva sighed. She put her hand gently on her small bump.

"what is our next move?" Ziva asked.

"we need to keep moving obviously." he ran his hand through his thinning hair. "I agree with Sarah. You need to rest."

"But we must keep moving." Ziva said.

"We'll figure it out. Right now, just try to relax." he said.

They waited for what felt like an hour but was really only about 10 minutes.

Sarah climbed into the backseat of the car and they sped away.

"we need a new car." she said.

"we'll get one." Keith said.

"the guys in the van were definitely government but, something felt off about them." Sarah said.

"they are bad, good guys." Ziva said. "dirty."

"yeah." Sarah nodded.

"How many people are after you exactly?" Keith asked.

"I do not know." Ziva sighed. "way too many."

Tony called Malachi as soon he got out of Margaretville.

"Malachi, I'm coming to Israel, I need to talk to Ray and Kort." Tony said.

"no, they're heading to D.C. and I'm on my way." Malachi said. "there's news."

Tony braced himself. "what?"

"that French arms dealer, definitely involved. Kort is connected to them somehow and Ray seems like his handler."

"Anything else?"

"Your new secretary, Jarvis,"

"what about him?"

"he goes way back with Eli and Vance." Malachi said.

"wait, was he connected to everything that went down last November?"

"yes. He was CIA then. All I know is that Eli doesn't trust him."

"neither does Vance." Tony commented. "he got the FBI to investigate."

"I will give them a call then." Malachi said. "I will see you soon my friend. Shalom."

"Shalom." Tony flipped his phone shut and kept driving.

His thoughts were filled with Ziva. Every car he passed, he tried to look in to see if it was Ziva. It was all he could to not go crazy.

He arrived back in D.C. and bought a few prepaid cell phones. He then went straight to Kort's upscale hotel that he always stayed at when he was in town.

"hi," Tony smiled at the receptionist and showed her his badge. "I need a room number for Trent Kort."

"you need a warrant." she said, smiling sweetly.

Tony's smile vanished. He whipped out his badge. "I need the room number. It's a matter of national security."

The receptionist looked scared and quickly gave Tony the number.

Tony went up to the sixth floor and jimmied the lock to room 613.

Kort was exhausted. He walked in the back way to his hotel and went up to his room. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Before he could register what was going on, a gun was pressed into his neck and the door was shut behind him. The intruder took his gun and slammed him against the wall.

"hi there Cyclops." Tony seethed.

"I didn't do anything, DiNozzo." Kort winced as Tony shoved him harder into the wall.

"oh yeah, why is Ziva being set up? Why were you in Tel Aviv? How is the French Arms dealer involved?"

"It's nothing to do with you." Kort said.

Tony spun Kort around, keeping him pinned.

"it has to do with Ziva, therefore, it has to do with me." he said getting nose to nose.

"Let me go and we can talk about this civilly." he growled.

Tony stared at him for a moment and finally released him. Kort straightened out his suit with a huff. He walked into the kitchenette area and sat down. He motioned for Tony to take the seat opposite him and he did.

"I am back undercover." He said.

"with the arms dealing I take it." Tony said.

"yes."

"so why were you in Tel Aviv?"

"I was meeting the arms dealer,"

Tony raised his eyebrows in question.

"Le Têtard." he clarified. "anyway, we met with some woman who was our, liaison, of sorts to Hamas."

"and?"

"Le Têtard did the business. That's all."

"you can't tell me the liaison's name?" Tony asked. He was beyond frustrated.

"Alina, Hastar...Haslar...something." he said.

Tony knew who it was. "isn't your job to get the details here?"

"no, right now I just have to keep an eye on Le Têtard." Kort said adamantly.

Tony sighed. Kort poured himself a drink and took a sip.

"what do you know about Jarvis?" Tony asked him.

"The Secretary? Not much, he did undercover work mostly in Asia and Europe some time ago when he was with the agency."

"was he involved with Mossad?"

"I assume so."

"was he a good agent?" Tony asked.

"seeing as he's now the secretary of the Navy, I would say yes."

"that doesn't mean he wasn't dirty." Tony said. "you don't know?"

"no." Kort said, taking another sip of his drink.

"come on Trent, you're not exactly the picture perfect agent here. Was Jarvis shady?"

"I don't know. I never worked with him. I just took over for him when he started moving up the ladder." he said sternly. "that's all I know."

Tony swallowed hard.

"do you know where I can find Alina?" Tony asked.

"she's in D.C. somewhere. All I have is a number to a burn phone which is most likely already been dumped." he said. "now leave. I don't know anything else."

"Alright." Tony said. "Thank you." he added begrudgingly.

Tony left in a hurry. He had to find Alina fast.

He called McGee as he walked to his car.

"McGee, don't let anyone know I'm calling you." Tony said before McGee could greet him.

"ok." he said.

"I need you to track a number for me. It's 555-555-6190."

"pre-paid cell." he said after a moment.

"can you trace it?"

"last two calls received bounced off of the same towers. Downtown D.C."

"look for hotels around there. Something nice." Tony said.

"the Ritz, The Hilton, The Embassera, The..."

"it's the Embassera." Tony said, remembering the night he followed Ziva right after he met her. Then it hit him. Alina was the woman who switched robes with Ziva.

"alright thanks McGee." Tony said and then he remembered something. "you speak French right?"

"A little." McGee said.

"what does Le Têtard mean in French?" Tony asked, holding his breath.

"uhh..." McGee thought. "the tadpole."

A/N: dynamite cliffhanger no. 1. Review!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: yeah...there's really no excuse for waiting this long to update. Sorry guys I hit writers block (again) plus I've been ridiculously busy. I'm going to try my absolute hardest to finish this before my break is over. Onward...

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything related to it in any way.

Tony wasn't shocked but he was very curious as to who this, 'tadpole' was. He drove downtown to The Embassera. He grabbed his go bag out of the back of his car and changed into his other suit.

He sat in his car and called Alina's burn phone. He prayed that she would pick up and was rewarded on the 5th ring.

Someone had picked up but no one said anything.

"Shalom." Tony started with.

"Shalom." he heard a woman answer but nothing else.

"My name is Tony DiNozzo, we met before. I need to talk to you about Ziva and her safety." Tony said quickly so she wouldn't hang up.

There was a moment of silence before she muttered. "Embassera." and hung up.

He walked into the Embassera lobby and took a quick look around. He didn't see Alina so he walked into the dining area. He still didn't see her or anyone suspicious. He walked down the hall to the pool area hoping that she would be there. He looked into the window only to see steam. He was about to turn around when he felt the muzzle of gun being shoved into his back. The person grabbed his gun and phone from his shoulder holsters.

"walk to the elevator, get in, press the 12th floor. Any false moves and you're dead." A man's voice growled. Tony couldn't distinguish any one accent but the man was obviously fluent in manu languages.

Tony did as he was told and when they arrived on the 12th floor the man ushered him along down the hall. They finally arrived at the right room; the man unlocked it and pushed Tony in.

"sit down. Special Agent DiNozzo." a woman with an Arabic accent said from across the room.

"do I really have a choice?" Tony asked.

"no." she said.

Tony again did as he was told.

"how did you get my number?" she asked as she turned around to face him. She looked the same as when he last saw her.

"Kort. I needed a favor from him." Tony said.

"does anyone else know that you are here?"

"no." Tony said.

"why are you persecuting Ziva?" she asked angrily.

"I'm not. I'm trying to help her." Tony said surprisingly calmly.

She pursed her lips like Ziva always did when she was not amused by his jokes.

"I love her." Tony said earnestly. "I need your help."

She saw the desperation in his eyes and decided to trust him.

"and how exactly could I help you?" she said as she sat down opposite him.

"I need information." Tony said.

"and you think that I could give that to you?"

"yes." Tony said. "please."

She sighed and crossed her legs. "what do you want to know?"

"Ziva is being set up by..."

"Jarvis." she said.

"yeah." Tony said as he wondered how much she already knew. "anyway, why?"

"Why does anything bad ever happen to Ziva?" Alina asked nonchalantly.

"Eli." Tony answered. "why would Jarvis be after Him?"

"Both Eli and Jarvis are bastards." she said with disgust. "He and Jarvis worked together in the middle east for years. Jarvis wasn't," she paused. "isn't, a good guy. Eli caught him selling secrets and information to terrorist groups. Jarvis found out that he knew and blackmailed him."

"with what?" Tony asked.

"his children." she said. "he is the one that gave the orders to the explosion that killed Tali. Then he threatened Ari but," she swallowed and looked pained. "when Ari was killed, he lost his leverage for a while. That is why he made the jump from the CIA to working with the Navy and NCIS. It took a while to climb the ladder but he did and for some reason, he's choosing now to take Eli down through his daughter."

Tony was overwhelmed. "how do we stop him?"

"you. I have my own problems." she said.

"why was Ziva calling you?" Tony asked quickly.

"She wanted information."

"on what?"

"Her father asked her to look into Kort. He knew that Kort had been involved with the Port to Port Killer."

"what did Eli want to know about Kort?" Tony asked.

"I don't know, I haven't talked to Ziva in almost 3 weeks. I've been moving around a lot lately."

"why'd you come to D.C. then?" Tony asked.

Alina laughed. "good try Special Agent."

"I could arrest you." Tony said, getting angry.

Two of Alina's men drew their guns. She held up a hand and they stopped.

"Where is Ziva now?" Alina asked.

"I don't know." Tony sighed and sat back in his chair. "we tried to get her out of the country but, someone else is after Ziva too."

"do you have any idea who?"

"The intel I have leads me to believe that your, French arms dealing friend is involved."

"I do not see why that would be the case." she said nonchalantly.

"anyway, is she ok?" Alina sounded concerned.

"I don't know. She was shot twice and lost a lot of blood and crashed in a plane but...I think she's alive. I think I would've felt it if she was gone." Tony said slowly.

"I'm sure she is." Alina laughed. "I have known Ziva since we were children. She was like a sister to me for a long time. I know that she has survived much worse."

Tony looked at the ground and took a deep breathe. "Ziva's pregnant though."

Alina looked surprised. "people in our line of work generally do not have families."

"yeah, I think that's one of the reasons that she got out." Tony said.

"Did she really get out though?" Alina said already knowing the answer.

"I thought so." Tony said questioningly.

"You never fully get out of this business. Especially since her father is at such a level of affluence." Alina said.

Tony sighed. "I thought she got away from him."

"take it from my brother and I's experience. You never get away from Eli David. No matter how hard you try."

"Joseph, search for recent small plane crashes." A woman said to one of her employees.

There was silence for a moment.

"one, late last night close to Boston." Joseph said.

"that's it. Tell Francois to take his team around that area. Finish the Job." she said harshly.

The man turned to leave but she stopped him.

"actually, tell Francois to take her alive."

*******3 hours later.

Ziva woke as they hit a bump.

"sorry sleeping beauty." Keith said checking the rear view mirror.

"It is fine." Ziva gave him a wan smile. She was still incredibly sleepy and her thigh was killing her. Her arm wasn't much of a problem.

"How long have we been driving?" Ziva asked him as she spotted Sarah asleep in the passenger seat.

"a few hours. We need to go back to D.C." He said.

Ziva was slightly confused. "why?"

"Mossad is in D.C. They're taking you back to Israel for safekeeping plus if you take a position with your father, you have diplomatic immunity." Keith said.

"you talked to Gibbs?" Ziva asked hopefully.

"no, Mossad called me directly but they assured me that everyone on our side knows." Keith replied.

Ziva nodded.

"you should get some more sleep." Keith said.

"I am fine." Ziva said. "how long until we meet with Mossad?"

"about ten minutes, they're just off a little exit up here." Keith said.

Ziva sat back and tried to relax but her ninja senses were starting to tingle. She tried to assure herself that it was nothing without much luck.

Sarah woke up and climbed into the back seat to check Ziva's wounds and redress them.

"you worried?" She asked.

"yes." Ziva sighed.

Sarah gave her a reassuring look and went back to the passenger seat.

Ten minutes later they were pulling into a small gas station just outside of Fairfax. No one was there which sent Ziva into a panic.

"Keith, this is not right." Ziva said quickly. "who was the Mossad officer that called you?"

Just as the words left her mouth, two black vans came screeching into either possible escape routes. Keith gunned the car back almost hitting one of the vans and tried to go forward but the ther van pulled in right in front of them. They were trapped.

Suddenly, the doors slid open and 3 men jumped out of each van with guns. They pointed them at Keith and Sarah so they were useless. A man came around Ziva's side and opened the door. He yanked her out and tried to drag her over to the van but she elbowed him in the face then kneed him in the gut and to finish off she slammed his head into the car door. He crumpled only to be replaced by another gun slinging bad guy. Ziva kicked the gun put of his hands and went to punch him but he countered and knocked her legs out from under her. She fell hard, knocking her breathless. She immediately thought about her baby and what exactly she was doing. She couldn't fight her way through them. Her instincts kicked in before she could stop herself and she kicked her attacker's legs out from under him. His head hit the ground hard and he fell unconscious. She rose up only to have the muzzle of a gun shoved in between her shoulder blades.

"stop fighting or both of you die." the man barked. She put her hands up in surrender. He put a hood over her head and dragged her into the van. She heard the door slide shut. She tried to slide as far over as she could but before she could, she felt a needle jabbed into her neck.

"no, please." she whispered hoarsely as she fell into blackness.

A/N: please review :) I write faster that way.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: yeah, again I apologize for the lateness but I've been mega busy and I'm getting a light break this weekend so that's why I'm posting. Please review, seriously they make me write faster and inspire me to keep going.

Tony walked out to his car and drove back to his apartment. He had to rest and recharge a little. He was running on empty and felt dead.

He walked in and put his keys down on the coffee table. The apartment felt ridiculously...empty. He undressed and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. He was surprised at what he saw in the mirror. The man in front of him looked ten years older and sickly. He had dark circles under his eyes and needed a shave. His face looked thinner and his stomach promptly reminded him that he needed food to work properly with a growl.

After his shower, Tony felt remarkably better but was still exhausted. He collapsed, naked onto their bed where he fell asleep after a few seconds.

He awoke a couple of hours later and started to get ready to get back on the case. Instead of a suit, he put on his favorite pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and polo sweater. He tucked his gun into his waistband in the small of his back and tucked his badge into his back pocket. He grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen and picked his car keys back up. He walked down to his car and as soon as he got in, his phone rang.

"DiNozzo, you can come back to NCIS for now." Gibbs said.

"boss I'm..."

"let me rephrase that. Come to NCIS now." and with that he hung up.

"fine. On my way." Tony muttered. His brain was mulling over everything that he had just learned, the entire way.

He walked into NCIS figuring out his next move. He had to talk to Eli about what exactly was going on with all of this.

Tony walked into the bullpen to find only McGee waiting for him.

"Wheres bossman?" Tony asked as he looked around.

"right behind you." Gibbs said.

Tony turned to not only find Gibbs but also, Malachi, Liat, and none other than Director Eli David himself.

"Director." Tony said and held out his hand. His own actions surprised him but then again, the man did have an army of assassins at his command and Tony did just knock up his daughter out of wedlock. And then lost her.

Eli took his hand slightly awkwardly.

"Special Agent DiNozzo."

"We need to talk about these recent...events." he said. Tony could see the worry in his eyes.

"I agree." Tony said, he scanned the catwalk looking for the Jarvis.

"not here." McGee said realizing what he was doing.

"then we can talk freely." Eli said.

"still, maybe we should move to the conference room." Tony said looking around for any people that may be loyal to Jarvis.

The group moved to the conference room only to be met by Abby and Ducky when they arrived.

They all went in and sat down around the table and on the couch.

"what do we know about what happened to Ziva?" Eli asked.

"she was supposed to go out of Dulles to New York then to Paris but their plane crashed by Boston. She survived along with the man accompanying her and was taken care of. They're safe and are soon to be moving on to Paris." Gibbs said.

"you talked to her?" Tony said quickly.

"briefly." Gibbs said.

"and you didn't tell me?" Tony said angrily.

"I'm telling you now DiNozzo. They're fine." Gibbs said calmly.

Tony noticed his emphasis on they and calmed down. The room was silent for a moment before Tony spoke.

"Director David, I need to know what happened when Jarvis was CIA."

"Jarvis is a fool. He sold his soul to the devil and still hasn't gotten it back. What happened then does not matter. What is happening now, he is punishing me. I told the CIA and FBI and my daughter to look into him. Now tell me agent DiNozzo, I know you have such...feelings for my daughter but you are much more...blatant, about it now. Are you seeing eachother?" he said quickly.

Tony swallowed. "yes."

"do you love her?" he asked with a small smile.

"yes." Tony said without even having to think.

Eli hmphed with an odd smile on his face. Tony couldn't tell if he thought it was funnily absurd or he was genuinely happy.

"Enough with the 20 questions." Malachi said. "We tracked Kort and company back here."

"company?" McGee asked.

"An up and coming French arms dealer." Liat spoke up. "he is back undercover. Or so he says."

"They were just doing business in Israel right?" Tony asked hoping that no one would ask where he got his intel from.

"supposedly, the only problem is, we don't know with who or why but we are speculating that it was Hamas seeing as how Alina Haswari is now here at the same time." Malachi said.

Eli looked slightly troubled but didn't say anything.

"do we know anything about what they're doing here other than 'just business'?" McGee asked.

"unfortunately not." Liat said.

"i think it's safe to assume that they're planning something in the states seeing as Alina wouldn't come here on normal business circumstances." Malachi said.

Someone's phone rang and they all checked to see who's it was. Tony's caller I'd read restricted. He had an odd gut feeling about it. He excused himself and went into the hallway.

"hel-"

"I have news," it was Alina. "but it cannot be discussed over the phone. Meet me at the little coffee shop right outside of the Navy yard in 10 minutes. Do not be late." with that she hung up leaving Tony semi speechless.

He ran to his desk and grabbed his gun and badge before running to the elevator. He would really have to hurry out.

He made it to the coffee shop with about a minute to spare. He looked around nervously as the wind whipped his tie and hair.

He waited for any sign of Alina but didn't see anything.

Suddenly, a sack of some sort had been thrown over his head and he was pulled into a van he assumed. His gun was taken along with his knife. The floor was hard and none of his captors said a word.

"can you at least take the hood off?" Tony asked. "it doesn't smell that wonderful." he was trying to diffuse the situation with a little humor but instead got a swift kick to his side. He felt the air leave his lungs.

"ooh. Ok I guess not." he said as he winced and tried to recover his composure. "was the sack really neccessary? I think a simple blindfold would suffice."

He was kicked again but this time he got what he wanted because one of his captors spoke.

"Shut up." he heard in a thick French accent.

These were the same guys that were after Ziva. After all, he didn't believe in coincidences. But what could they want? He didn't know where Ziva was. If they wanted him dead, he would be dead by now.

"do you guys have anything to..." he started but was interrupted with another, much harder kick. He was knocked flat over so his face was pressed into the hard floor of the van. He felt a needle being jabbed into his neck and his vision started to get fuzzier and fuzzier until all he saw was black and he faded into unconsciousness.

Tony slowly came to. He found himself tied to a chair. He looked around, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He smelled must and mold. He must've been in a basement of some sort. He heard a rat scuttle by to the side of him and jumped with a slight shiver running up his spine. He was in pitch black darkness. No light, no sound, only smell. And rats. Of course it had to be rats.

Anthony DiNozzo was not afraid of the dark, but this scared him. Not really the room but more of the entire situation. He felt his resolve start to crumble as he thought about what could happen to Ziva. Not only Ziva but also their baby now. What the hell was he going to do? He was captured. How can he help save her if he's captured? He was stupid to trust a terrorist. But then again, Ziva trusted her. She also trusted Rivkin though.

He didn't know how long he sat there, alone with his thoughts.

Finally, a light was seen directly in from of him. It was almost blinding. He squinted and looked down to the side. He heard footsteps come closer and suddenly the room was full of light.

He blinked quickly and turned his head up to find a pair of very familiar eyes. His eyes adjusted and found a very familiar face.

"Jeanne..." Tony said in surprise. Then it all made sense. Everything. He was going to kill Kort for blindsiding him like this. He knew damn well.

"Tony." she said bitterly as if his name were poison.

"Jeanne." Tony said slowly.

"it seems we have quite a bit to talk about." she said as she slid a table from the wall over in front of him. She laid out a picture of Ziva with that mornings newspaper in her hands. She looked tired, but overall unhurt. He felt some relief but was soon reminded that she was after all captured.

"well actually, it seems you do." Tony said. He was trying his best to put up his best bravado but it certainly wasn't easy.

"and what might that be about?"

"well, for starters, why am I duck taped to a chair?" Tony said snidely letting his fear show as anger.

"all in due time." she said. "first off, why did you contact Alina?"

"I'm trying to find Ziva. Looks like I've found her."

"hmm." she muttered.

"hmm... What?" Tony said.

Jeanne stayed silent for a moment.

"I have a proposition for you." she said with no emotion.

"I'm all ears." Tony said.

"you are my inside man." She said. "you get me what I need and around the law."

"and what do I get?" Tony asked.

"your dear precious Ziva and child get, relocated, shall we say."

"relocated?" Tony asked.

"permanently. You never see her again. If you try to find her or contact her, they die. She tries to contact you, they die." Jeanne said.

Tony clenched his jaw. What was he supposed to do? He didn't exactly have much of a choice. It amazed him that just the knowledge that he was going to be a father immediately made him want to take it even if he was being a traitor to his country, his job, and his friends.

"I need your answer." she said impatiently.

He didn't respond. He was still trying to figure a way out of this mess.

"3, 2..." she started.

"yes." he growled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked.

"yes!" he yelled. "but on one condition."

"I'm listening." she said.

"I get to see her one last time." he said, his eyes pleading for some sort of compassion.

Jeanne thought about his request. Why should she? He ruined her life. He used her. Now she was using him. She was going to ruin his. Why not?

She narrowed his eyes at her and walked out of the room.

Ziva awoke to a dark room. She could barely make out the shape of a door in the far corner.

She tried to free her hands which were tied behind her back. Her entire body was sore and she was still groggy from whatever they had used to knock her out.

She looked up as the door opened but was forced to look away because the light was too bright. She let her eyes adjust for a moment to see a woman walking behind her. She felt her bindings loosen and then fall off completely only to have a gun shoved into the back of her neck.

"get up," She said cooly.

Ziva did as she was told.

Jeanne stepped a few feet away but kept the gun trained on Ziva the entire time.

"any false moves and a bullet goes into you back." Jeanne said. "now walk."

Ziva did as she was told. Jeanne directed her down a hallway and finally down stairs to the basement.

"open the door." Jeanne said.

Ziva hesitated for a moment before reaching out for the knob.

Tony looked up quickly as the door opened.

"Ziva..." he said.

"Tony!" Ziva gasped and ran to him.

"you have five minutes." Jeanne said and shut the door behind her. Both Tony and Ziva heard the tumbler roll as the door locked.

Ziva immediately undid his bindings. He stood up and took her into his arms. She pressed her face into the side of his neck as he breathed in her smell. He pulled away slightly to get a good look at her. She looked exhausted but otherwise alright.

"are you ok?" Tony asked as he put a hand up to cup her cheek.

"I'm fine Tony." she smiled softly. "we're fine."

Tony couldn't help a smile overwhelm his face. He leaned down and kissed her. He slowly lowered his hands to the hem of her shirt and pulled it up slightly to reveal her barely noticeable bump. He put his hand over it and kissed her with more passion. They kept kissing for a few minutes before Ziva pulled away.

"Tony, we need to find a way put of here." she said with pained urgency.

"Ziva..." Tony trailed off.

She pulled away completely and went back to the door, trying to find a way to pick the lock.

"We can find a way out Tony, I know it. We can escape and then we can..."

"Ziva no." Tony cut her off.

Ziva stopped and turned around to face him.

"what?" she asked, confused.

"I made a deal with Jeanne," Tony swallowed.

Ziva gave him a questioning look.

He continued. "I'm her inside guy and in exchange, she relocates both of you somewhere."

"that's ok." Ziva smiled hopefully. "you can find me, Gibbs..."

"no, Ziva." Tony looked down. "If I try to find you, she'll kill you." he looked back up to meet her gaze. He was surprised to find tears in her eyes threatening to fall.

"youre giving up?" she stated in disbelief as she took a few steps forward and he went the rest of the way to her.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her. She wrapped hers around his neck and hid her face there. She couldn't help the tears fall as she realized exactly what that meant. It meant that she would never see him again. It meant that she would raise their child alone. And it meant that her child would grow up without a father.

He stroked her hair as she cried. He picked her up and moved them over to the corner. He pulled her down with him, onto his lap. He held her as she played with the hairs on the back of his neck and he breathed in her sweet scent.

"I love you Ziva. I always will." He sighed and kissed her forehead.

"I love you too Tony." Ziva said. She slowly picked her head up to look into his eyes. He looked back into hers and silently tried to reassure her that everything was going to be alright even though he was skeptical himself.

They both tried not to think of this as their last time being together but given their current situation, it was hard for them both. So there they sat for another 2 minutes and 6 seconds, wishing it would go on forever.

A/N: review!


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